News

Colville Enacts Same-Sex Marriage Recognition Statute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here (h/t here). They join Coquille, Suquamish, Little Traverse, Pokagon, and Santa Ysabel. For other tribes interested, see the toolkit Ann Tweedy posted a while back.

An important point:

Practically speaking, Finley said, it will mean that gay partners can have the same rights as a married couple of different sexes. One change already enacted allows anyone who works for the tribe to add a spouse of the same sex to their insurance and benefits.

He said the tribe will now begin modifying its other codes, plans and policies to make sure they agree with the newly passed amendment.

White House Blog Post on VAWA 2013 and Indian Health

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

Because of the successful 2013 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which President Obama signed into law on March 7, 2013, tribal courts and law enforcement will soon be able to exercise the sovereign power to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence those who commit acts of domestic violence or dating violence or violate certain protection orders in Indian country, regardless of the defendant’s Indian or non-Indian status. The tribal provisions of this landmark legislation were originally proposed by the Department of Justice in 2011 to address alarming rates of violence against native women.  We believe today, as we did then, that this is not only constitutionally sound law, but it is also a moral prerogative and an essential tool to ensure that non-Indian men who assault Indian women are held accountable for their crimes.

NYTs Editorial on New York’s Crack Down on Predatory Lenders

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

A prominent online lender that has increasingly run into state challenges — Western Sky Financial, owned by a tribal member of the Cheyenne River Sioux — has just announced that it will stop financing loans next month.

 

Pokagon Band Buys Naming Rights to South Bend Minor League Baseball Stadium

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here.

Tamastslikt Cultural Institute Exhibits Andy Warhol Panels “Cowboys and Indians”

Adrea Korthase

From OPB here. An excerpt

The 10 panels and additional material are on loan to Tamastslikt from the Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York. Tamastslikt curator Randall Melton says the images are evenly divided among the Cowboys — iconic western figures like General Custer and John Wayne — and Indians — images Warhol obtained from what became the National Museum of the American Indian.

Melton explains, “People kind of give you the ‘Huh? How does that fit into a tribal interpretive center?’ “

He says this show is a departure from the museum’s usual cultural program, but an intentional one. The Tamastslikt show marks the first time these works have travelled. They’re typical of Warhol’s style — photographs, done up in silkscreen, then painted with lots of vibrant color.

Dorothy Cyr, a tribal member who works next door at the Wild Horse Casino, brought her 12-year-old son Zech to see the show.

“It was nice,” the younger Cyr said, strolling amid the panels. “It was really odd the way he uses his art, how he made all the colors.” Dorothy Cyr added, “I think it’s a great opportunity for our tribe to have such works displayed on our reservation.”

Jim Thorpe, PA Has “no intention of letting him go”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here, via How Appealing.

NPR’s Morning Edition on KYAY

Kate Fort

Here.

In eastern Arizona, there’s a tiny, 1900 watt radio station that’s marking its first year on the air. KYAY is licensed to and owned by the San Carlos Apache Tribe. For many of the isolated reservation’s 13,000 or so residents, it’s the outlet for community information, news and a lot of entertainment.

And because there is a reference to Northern Cree in the story, we feel the need to link to this particular Northern Cree audition:

NYTs Profile of the Mohawk Lacrosse Pro Who Played the Original Tonto

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Worth reading for the story about how he acquired the Silverheels nickname.

ABA Journal Article on Rise of Amicus Briefs in the SCT … And Which Justices Pay Attention or Ignore Them

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Source: Anthony Franze and R. Reeves Anderson of Arnold & Porter's appellate and Supreme Court practice group in Washington, D.C. Graphics by Adam Weiskind.
Source: Anthony Franze and R. Reeves Anderson of Arnold & Porter’s appellate and Supreme Court practice group in Washington, D.C. Graphics by Adam Weiskind.

New York Racial Profiling Case Involving Mohawk Indian and Marijuana

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

The opinion in People v. Deer is here (it’s from March). An excerpt:

The court believes that Officer Carrier decided to follow the white SUV and do a radio run because the driver appeared nervous. Her actions were completely consistent with a person who was not engaged in any criminal activity. There was no basis to believe that a vehicle with a NYS license plate and registration had crossed the border or was engaged in any way with smuggling persons or contraband across the border. He drove up behind the SUV, coming close enough on a dark night in a rural area to see her license. As he overtook her or followed her, she swerved, a not unexpected result of having someone come up quickly, not pass and start to follow you. The radio run advised him that the person who owned and registered the vehicle lived at an address on or near the Mohawk reservation and had a name that might be consistent with a person of Mohawk heritage. It could, of course, also be a husband’s name and not her own. The officer then drove into Gouverneur, not for the purpose of stopping the vehicle immediately, but to further observe it, according to his testimony. He placed himself in a position to see into the vehicle with street lights, parking lot lights and his headlights. He had the opportunity at that point to observe Corene Deer with her clearly Native American features. He then stopped the vehicle. He was handed the registration sticker which should have been on the windshield. He wrote his report without even mentioning it, clearly indicating to the court that it was in no way the basis for his stop. Although he testified about observing that the sticker was not on a windshield at a point in his narrative of events that might have led the court to believe he observed it prior to the stop, his testimony on cross examination made it clear that he did not observe it prior to the stop, nor was it the basis for the stop.