After a decade of litigation, a federal court (D. S.D.) held a trial and reached a decision as to “what remains of the Yankton Sioux Reservation following the Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe, 522 U.S. 329, 358 (1998).” Slip op. at 2.
Here are the materials:
From Soo Today:
Friday, December 21, 2007
NEWS RELEASE
SAULT STE. MARIE
TRIBE OF
CHIPPEWA INDIANS
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Tribal walleye stocking program going strong into 10th year
21 percent of walleye sampled were stocked fish; no sign of VHS in stocks
SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Tom Gorenflo, Inter-Tribal Fisheries and Assessment Program (ITFAP) director, reported walleye fishing in the St. Marys river received another boost in 2007 as the ITFAP raised and stocked 337,000 two-inch walleye summer fingerlings at various locations in the river.
From Indianz:
Thursday, December 20, 2007
A group called Lakota Freedom Delegation is withdrawing from the treaties their ancestors signed with the U.S. and is setting up their own independent nation. Four activists, including Russell Means, were in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to announce their plans. They said the federal government has failed to abide by 33 treaties that promised land, health care, education and other services. “Our people want to live, not just survive or crawl and be mascots,” Phyllis Young said, Agence France-Press reported. Members of the new nation won’t pay taxes. The new nation’s territory covers western parts of North and South Dakota and Nebraska and eastern parts of Wyoming and Montana.
Get the Story:
Lakota group pushes for new nation (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 12/20)
Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US (AP 12/20)
Lakota group declares sovereign nation status (The Rapid City Journal 12/20)
Relevant Links:
Lakota Freedom Delegation – http://www.lakotafreedom.com
Thirty-seven individual cases raising the same claims as in the Cobell litigation had been spun off from that massive case in the past few years. The United States moved to remand and stay these cases to the Department of Interior. Yesterday, Judge Robertson declined that motion.
Here are the relevant materials:
Ok, so earlier today I posted two articles back to back for a reason. They are (1) a light LA Times commentary on Andrew Jackson (okay dude or Hitler?); and (2) a dense law review article on the Article III judgment power by William Baude. They’re connected, in my opinion, although I doubt it is apparent to anyone but me.
Here it goes:
Mark J. Bennett & Nicole Roughan have posted “Rebus Sic Stantibus and the Treaty of Waitangi” on SSRN. This is a very interesting paper, a response to the argument put forth by renowned legal thinker Jeremy Waldron that the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus could be applied to the Treaty of Waitangi to effectively abrogate it. In short, this argument goes, the passage of time and radically changed political realities could serve to render the Treaty unenforceable.
This, I think, is a similar argument to what the Vermont Supreme Court made in State v. Elliott and what the U.S. Supreme Court did in Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation — where the passage of time and changed political circumstances appear to render Indian treaty rights nugatory. In short, it’s troubling.
From the abstract:
An interesting question is brewing in the Ninth and Tenth Circuits — whether the administration of the National Eagle Repository (created by the USFWS as a means to create an exception to the Bald and Golden Eagles Protection Act for American Indians) is unconstitutional as applied to American Indians.
From the Grand Rapids Press:
A loophole in proposed federal legislation designed to keep ocean freighters from importing more exotic species into the Great Lakes could sink the proposal, leaving the door open to continued invasions.
From Indian Country Today:
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Photos by Theresa Keshick — Pictured are the signatories of the commemorative signing of the 2007 Inland Consent Decree between five tribes – Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians – and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. government Oct. 25. More than 100 people were present to witness the signing. (Below) Some of the signatories included Alice King Yellowbank, member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands Tribal Council; Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Chairman Frank Ettawageshik; and Albert Colby Jr., tribal administrator of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
Indian Country Faces and Places welcomes your submissions. Send your high resolution photographs and a short description to photo@indiancounty.com and place ”Faces and Places” in the subject line.
Here’s an interesting article about the Lac du Flambeau tribal court and its hunting and fishing jurisprudence by Larry Nesper, author of the Walleye War, a history of the Wisconsin fish wars.
Nesper, Negotiating Jurisprudence in Tribal Court and the Emergence of a Tribal State
Turtle Talk 
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