New Scholarship on Whaling Rights of the Makah

Thomas A. Martin has posted “Whaling Rights of the Makah” on SSRN.

Here is the (incredibly, far too long) abstract:

The Makah Indian Tribe (‘Makah’ or ‘Tribe’) is a federally recognized tribe located on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, with a current population of 1,356. The Makah have hunted whales for over two millennia. Continue reading

Seattle Weekly: Fish vs. Farms on the Skagit Delta

Here.

An excerpt:

The Skagit delta farming system’s intricate rotation of some 80 vegetable and seed crops has been 150 years in the making. Dikes to keep the low-lying farmland dry and tide gates to prevent saltwater incursion into croplands are valuable to farmers, but not so much to Natives trying to revive salmon runs on the third largest American river on the contiguous West Coast.

The Swinomish Tribe’s priority is fish, not farms. And a century and a half of treaty law has put in their hands considerable power to press their case. In 1855, territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated with western Washington tribes, trying to coax them into giving up millions of acres of land and retreat to reservations with prescribed boundaries. The Treaty of Point Elliott, signed by tribal leaders at a place later known as Mukilteo, included a guarantee of perpetual fishing rights. The treaty included this language: “The right of taking fish, at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations, is further secured to said Indians in common with all other citizens of the Territory, and of erecting temporary houses for the purpose of curing them, together with the privileges of hunting, gathering roots and berries, and pasturing their horses on open and unclaimed lands.”

Cherokee Nation Answer to Federal Counterclaim in Freedmen Suit

Here:

Cherokee nation v nash tribal answer to federal counterclaim 8 6 2012

The counterclaim is here.

Western Sky Financial Effort to Litigate Maryland Consumer Investigation in Federal Court Fails

Here are the materials in Western Sky Financial LLC v. Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation (D. Md.):

DCT Order Remanding Case to State Court

Maryland CFR Motion to Dismiss

Western Sky Opposition

Maryland CFR Reply

Here is our post on the state court case, ongoing.

Galanda on the American Indian Treaty Consultation Mandate

Presented in Geneva for the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights:

American Indian Treaties The Consultation Mandate

First Stewards Climate Change Symposium

Coastal First Peoples are currently gathered in Washington DC to discuss climate change impacts and response strategies. Symposium details, including live streaming video of presentations, can be found here.

Navy to Compensate Hood Canal Tribes for Treaty Fishing Damage: $9 Million

Here.

Minnesota COA Case Denying Equal Protection Challenge to Indian Fishing Rights

Here is the opinion in State v. Fellegy:

opa111097-071112

From the court’s syllabus:

The district court need not conduct an evidentiary hearing on a criminal defendant’s pretrial motion to dismiss based on the defendant’s claim under his right to equal protection that the charge arose from unconstitutional selective enforcement if the defendant has asserted facts that, even if proven, would not substantiate the claim. And a defendant’s allegation that a different prosecutor in a different charging jurisdiction decided not to charge two individuals of a different race for the same offense that the defendant was charged with is not sufficient to substantiate an unconstitutional selective prosecution claim.

IPR: Emmet County Bear Hunting Conviction Overturned (Mich. Inland Treaty Rights Implications)

Here is the unpublished opinion in People v. Levigne:

Mich COA Opinion

And the IPR report.

An excerpt:

The Michigan Court of Appeals says it was legal for hunting guides to help with an off-season bear hunt in Emmet County back in September of 2010. The guides were assisting Todd Yoder, an American Indian hunter.

For Yoder, the hunt was clearly legal because of tribal hunting and fishing rights. But his two assistants are not Native American, and by their own admission, their help was vital to the success of the hunt. Their dogs ran the bear up a tree, where it was shot. Emmet County court found the guides, William McNeight and Blaine Levigne, guilty of “taking” a bear in the off-season.

But this week an appeals panel reversed that decision. The judges say the state law that applies to this case says the “taking” of an animal involves a firearm, crossbow, or bow and arrow. So the guides could help, they just couldn’t shoot.

Update in Cherokee Nation v. Nash (Cherokee Freedmen Case)

Here are new materials filed by the Freedmen and the feds against the Cherokee Nation:

Federal Answer to Amended Complaint

Federal Counterclaim

118-1 Attachment

Freedmen Amended Answer — Counterclaims — Cross Claims

Freedmen Exhibits

News coverage here.