The case is Miner v. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (D. N.D.). Here are the materials:
Miner Motion for Summary Judgment
[no response]
Miner Response to Motion to Dismiss
Miner v Standing Rock DCT Opinion
tribal courts
CA9 Remands Nonmember Jurisdiction Case to Tribal Court
Here is the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Elliott v. White Mountain Apache Tribal Court. An excerpt:
We are sympathetic to Plaintiff’s concerns about defending her actions in an unfamiliar court system. But, because tribal court jurisdiction is plausible, principles of comity require us to give the tribal courts a full opportunity to determine their own jurisdiction in the first instance.
Here are the materials:
API v. Sac & Fox — Cross-Motions Pending
The case is ATTORNEY’S PROCESS AND INVESTIGATION SERVICES, INC. v. SAC & FOX TRIBE OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN IOWA.
After having been reopened (see our post here), post-tribal remedies exhaustion, the tribe filed a motion to dismiss, and the plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment. Both are pending after the court’s order to allow amendment of some of the pleadings.
API Resistance to Motion to Dismiss
Lozeau v. GEICO — State Court Jurisdiction over Reservation Tort
The question here is whether the Montana Supreme Court would invoke the doctrine of equitable tolling to toll the state statute of limitations where the plaintiff had first filed her tort claim in CSKT tribal court, then filed in state court. The court said yes, reversing a trial court order dismissing the claim.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Amends Tribal Court Comity/Transfer Rule
From the Wisconsin Law Journal:
Postjudgment proceedings involving modifications to child support, custody, and placement will soon be transferable from Wisconsin circuit courts to tribal courts without a hearing.
Pursuant to Rule 801.54, adopted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2008, and effective Jan. 1, 2009, courts have already had discretion to transfer any civil action if the court finds that concurrent jurisdiction is present.
But that rule requires notice and a hearing before transfer occurs.
At a May 1 administrative conference, the court adopted an amendment to the rule for family law cases that would dispense with a hearing if no party objects.
Seneca Tribal Court Declares New York Thruway Easement Void
Here is the opinion, relying on the federal Non-Intercourse Act for the most part — seneca-pm-court-opinion-on-ny-thruway
The highway at issue is located on the Cattaraugus Reservation.
U.S. v. Lente — On-Reservation Federal Criminal Sentencing
A badly divided panel of the Tenth Circuit vacated the sentence of an Indian woman convicted of vehicular homicide in United States v. Lente (unpublished). She was given a sentence of 216 months, more than four times the federal guidelines upper limit.
Of note, the lower court took judicial notice of her five tribal court convictions:
The court essentially gave seven reasons for the sentence: … 3) Ms. Lente had five Tribal Court convictions and three additional arrests—most of which involved the excessive use of alcohol and violence—and these convictions, along with her five separate probations, had failed to deter her from abusing alcohol and breaking the law….
NPR on Congressional Efforts to Stop Rape in Indian Country
From NPR (miigwetch to A.K.):
The federal government has recently announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to improve medical clinics, buy more rape kits and bolster the police response to what authorities say is an epidemic of rapes on Indian land.
The February stimulus bill injected $500 million into Indian Health Services, the agency that handles most medical needs for Native Americans, while the appropriations bill that passed in March is also adding funds. The March bill increases the budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs by $85 million to provide additional law enforcement on reservations.
Meanwhile, Congress is attempting to strengthen the authority of tribal police with a new bill that would grant Native American tribes greater police powers.
Advocates say it would be a sea change for tribes, which are largely dependent on the federal government when it comes to law enforcement on their lands.
Saginaw Chippewa Citizen on Disenrollments
from Rob J. Peters blog:
The following editorial regarding the tribe’s recent disenrollment motion has been censored and will not appear in our tribal newspaper due to its controversial subject matter. This editorial has been scheduled for publication nationally later this week by a Native news organization. It is also preface to a more in-depth report regarding the membership history of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council had the unfortunate task of deciding the fate of an undetermined number of people when faced with a disenrollment motion March 17, 2009.
It was and always has been an issue of legality that has been dangerously ignored too long. Ignoring and allowing those not entitled to membership under specific constitutional guidelines by diluting (Enrollment) Ordinance 14 (now almost thirty pages long), has in-fact led to intentional or otherwise fraud and mistake.
Dangerous in that those who have been allowed membership, although not constitutionally entitled, are now faced with the harsh and scary reality of not only losing benefits, but an identity they believed was based in historical record. But historical records are not the rule of law when absolute criteria is outlined and inclusion is very specific.
The membership criteria of the Saginaw Chippewas was determined over 70 years ago, and redefined almost 23 years ago; in the founding documents of our tribe, the Constitutions of 1937 and 1986.
***
To read the rest, go here.
Riggs v. San Juan County — Appellate Brief
Once again, this long-running case heads back to the Tenth Circuit. Here is the opening salvo — all 645 pages (about 8 MB) — riggs-ca10-brief
Counsel for appellants may be heading for trouble for filing a frivolous appeal (see my paper here). Who knows?
Turtle Talk 
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