From WaPo here.
Billboard Uses Indians to Make Second Amendment Argument
From WaPo here.
News
NPR Story on Affordable Care Act Providing More Money for Indian Health Service
Here.
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn on “Unjustifiable Expectations”
I’m honored that historian and Professor Emerita Elizabeth Cook-Lynn has reviewed one of my law review articles in Native Sun News.
A Book Review: ‘Unjustifiable Expectations’ by Ann E. Tweedy
NYTs Alleges Vast Fraud in Federal Settlements for Race Discrimination against Minority Farmers
Here. The worst allegations involve Black farmers but there are claims against the Keepseagle settlement, too.
An excerpt:
A 2010 settlement with Native Americans was contentious for its own reasons. Justice Department lawyers argued that the $760 million agreement far outstripped the potential cost of a defeat in court. Agriculture officials said not that many farmers would file claims.
That prediction proved prophetic. Only $300 million in claims were filed, leaving nearly $400 million in the control of plaintiffs’ lawyers to be distributed among a handful of nonprofit organizations serving Native American farmers. Two and a half years later, the groups have yet to be chosen. It is unclear how many even exist.
And:
Atlantic.com: The Most Important Supreme Court Cases You’ve Never Heard Of
Here.
Thanks to Gerald Torres, Elk v. Wilkins makes the list:
Gerald Torres, professor, University of Texas School of Law
In 1879, John Elk renounced his allegiance to his American Indian tribe to go live among the citizens of Omaha. But when he tried to register to vote, the registrar claimed that he was not a citizen. No one disputed that Elk was born within the territorial limits of the United States, but in 1884’s Elk v. Wilkins, the Court ruled that the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to Elk or others like him. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 changed this, but the case remains relevant to today’s birthright debate. Some suggest that the children of undocumented immigrants have no more claim to citizenship than Elk did. They are wrong.
NYTs Article on Pyramid Lake Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Comeback
Here.
An excerpt:
In the mid-1970s, the Paiute Tribe opened a fish hatchery in Sutcliffe and stocked Pyramid Lake with strains of Lahontan cutthroat from nearby lakes. The water in Pyramid Lake is saltier than Lake Tahoe, and that kept out the lake trout. The tribe re-established a Lahontan cutthroat sport fishery and saved Pyramid Lake’s endangered Cui-ui sucker from extinction. Anglers bought tribal licenses, hauled ladders out into the lake’s bracing water and considered any catch that weighed 10 pounds or more a trophy.
In the late 1970s, a fish biologist identified what he thought were surviving specimens of the vanished Pyramid Lake strain of Lahontan cutthroat in a small creek near a 10,000-foot mountain on the border of Nevada and Utah called Pilot Peak. A Utah man used buckets to stock the rugged stream with trout in the early 1900s, but made no record, federal biologists say. Geneticists recently compared cutthroats from the Pilot Peak stream with mounts of giant Pyramid Lake trout and discovered an exact DNA match.
“They are the originals,” said Corene Jones, 39, the broodstock coordinator for the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery in Gardnerville, Nev.
NYTs on “Water War” on Flathead Reservation
Here.
Press Release on Confirmation of Derrick Watson to Federal Bench
For Immediate Release, April 22, 2013
Contact: Mary L. Smith (202) 236-0339
NNABA APPLAUDS THE CONFIRMATION OF DERRICK WATSON TO THE FEDERAL BENCH
Fourth Native Hawaiian in U.S. History to be Federal Judge
Phoenix, AZ. – The National Native American Bar Association (NNABA) commends the confirmation of Derrick Kahala Watson to the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. Watson becomes the only person of Native Hawaiian descent to currently serve in the federal judiciary and only the fourth Native Hawaiian in U.S. history.
“NNABA is thrilled by the historic confirmation of Derrick Kahala Watson to the federal judiciary,” said Mary L. Smith, President of NNABA. “We are heartened that in addition to Mr. Watson’s eminent qualifications, the federal bench will be furthered diversified as the result of Mr. Watson’s ascension to the court. We applaud President Obama for nominating Mr. Watson and the U.S. Senate for its 94-0 vote to confirm him.” NNABA hopes that this nomination signals that a Native American will soon be appointed to the federal bench.
Mr. Watson recently served as chief for the Civil Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for he District of Hawaii. He attended the Kamehameha Schools and graduated from Harvard Law School.
Founded in 1973, NNABA serves as the national association for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian attorneys, judges, law professors and law students. NNABA strives for justice and effective legal representation for all American indigenous peoples; fosters the development of Native American lawyers and judges; and addresses social, cultural and legal issues affecting American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
NNABA has launched an “Increase Natives and Tribal Court Judges in the Judiciary” initiative.
For more information contact 480-727-0420 or visitwww.nativeamericanbar.org.
In Honor of Judge Jim Genia
We’ve been waiting to post on the tragic passing of Judge Jim Genia, a LTBB member who was a judge for both Little Traverse and Grand Traverse bands. Jim walked on a few weeks ago from a long illness — he was only 48 years old. Here is a news profile from the Petoskey News.
Jim was a truly good guy, a great judge, and we will miss him very much. A terrible loss.
Michigan Radio on ICWA, Baby Veronica, and MIFPA
Here. Judge Allie Maldonado, Judge Tim Connors, and our own Kate Fort are interviewed. [Everyone’s name is spelled wrong, but there’s no spelling on radio….]
An excerpt:
The state law is called the Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act. People in the know shorten it to MIFPA.
As State Court Judge Tim Connors sees it, the law could be a model for the whole state. He get’s really passionate about the law, going so far as to call it “salvation” and “a tremendous gift.” Connors sees MIFPA’s approach as an alternative to breaking apart families when the state takes children away from their parents. Connors is not afraid to say what he thinks about that approach. “The truth of the matter is that what we do in our state courts and (sic) family courts is very destructive to families, to individuals, to children,” he says.
The tribes want families kept out of this system. Their history and a ton of statistics tell them it takes kids a long time to get out, and it can be pretty damaging.
Tribes would rather parents get the help they need to be better parents and keep a family together.
Of course that isn’t always possible. Abusive and neglectful parents should not get to keep their kids under MIFPA or any other law.
But for many other families who have problems, MIFPA says the state needs to work a little harder to connect Indian families to the resources that can make a difference for them and their children. It’s called an “active efforts” requirement. Judge Connors explains it to himself as “following through” and “walking the talk.” Connors also says he thinks the active efforts requirement should be the law for all kids in the state.
Judge Connors highlights something that always gets lost in discussions about the Indian Child Welfare Act — ICWA and MIFPA really are best practices statutes, and when someone asks why Indians should get a “special” statute, the answer is that every child should have these legal rights.
Turtle Talk 
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