tribal courts

Fineday v. Roy — Minnesota PL280 Jurisdiction over Child Support

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Minnesota Court of Appeals in Fineday v. Roy (unpublished) held that state courts have jurisdiction over reservation Indians in child support cases. From the opinion:

Andy Joseph Roy is an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Indians. He and Larissa Pauline Fineday have two children and live on the White Earth reservation. Fineday receives public assistance from the state. The county commenced an action to enforce Roy’s child-support obligation as a means of obtaining reimbursement for the public-assistance benefits. Roy moved to dismiss the action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, but the district court denied the motion. We conclude that the district court had subject-matter jurisdiction over the county’s action and, therefore, affirm.

Amnesty Letter to NYTs Editor re: Indian Justice

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From NYTs:

Re “Broken Justice in Indian Country” (Op-Ed, Aug. 11):

N. Bruce Duthu rightly points to the need to restore tribal authority over cases of rape and sexual assault committed against Native American and Alaska Native women and to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota recently introduced legislation that would be a tremendous step in this direction. The bill should be strengthened in collaboration with tribal leaders and then passed.

It is also critical to ensure that all available forensic evidence is gathered promptly and correctly after these crimes are reported. Amnesty International researchers have found that often it is not.

Native women who report rape may not get a police response for hours or days, especially in rural areas. Many Indian Health Service hospitals lack personnel trained to provide emergency services to victims of sexual assault. If a rape kit is not administered or is administered improperly, the chances that the perpetrator will be brought to justice are greatly diminished.

Congress should help by increasing financing to ensure that there are enough police officers on tribal lands to respond to these crimes and that sexual assault nurse examiner programs are established in all Indian Health Service hospitals. Larry Cox

Executive Director

Amnesty International USA

New York, Aug. 12, 2008

GTB Chairman Election Re-Run

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the court order referenced in the Record-Eagle article — Bailey v. GTB Election Board

PESHAWBESTOWN — A new election will be held for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians’ chairman’s post after a tribal court ruled the band’s election board improperly censured candidate Derek Bailey just before the initial vote.

A 23-page order issued by the band’s appellate court last week threw out the results of the May 21 tribal chairman’s election and ordered a new vote for the four-year post.

Bailey lost by 23 votes to two-term incumbent Robert Kewaygoshkum. But he challenged the results because the band’s Election Board held an emergency meeting two days before the election and subsequently issued an e-mail censuring him for allegedly using his tribal computer to visit his campaign Web site.

No date for the new election has been scheduled, tribal officials said.

Continue reading →

Beltran v. Harrah’s Arizona Corp. — Tort Claim Against Casino

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 2, affirmed the dismissal of a tort complaint against the management company for the Ak-Chin Indian Community. The plaintiffs had filed a tribal court claim that had been dismissed for procedural reasons (failure to identify the proper party).

Opinion

beltran-v-harrahs-appellee-brief

[appellant’s briefs unavailable]

Wisconsin Supreme Court’s New Rule on Discretionary Transfer to Tribal Courts

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Interesting development. Wisconsin, being a PL280 state, has issues with concurrent jurisdiction. Now a state court has discretion to stay a state court proceeding if a tribal court has concurrent jurisdiction, and transfer the case to tribal court, if other factors are met.

There were three dissenters, focusing on Plains Commerce Bank. Not sure why, given that the state court has to find concurrent jurisdiction before transferring anyway. What’s the harm if the state court finds jurisdiction consistent with federal common law?

wisconsin-sct-tribal-court-transfer-rule

Tribal Judge Korey Wahwassuck on Tribal Court Jurisdiction

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians Chief Judge Korey Wahwassuck has published “The New Face of Justice: Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction” in the Washburn Law Journal.

This piece covers the watershed agreement between the Leech Lake Band and the Cass County District Court.

Christine Zuni Cruz on Indigenous Law Scholarship and the Tribal Law Journal

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Christine Zuni Cruz, EIC of the Tribal Law Journal, has published “Shadow War Scholarship, Indigenous Legal Tradition, and Modern Law in Indian Country” in the Washburn Law Journal.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction:

This essay comments on the multi-layered experience of establishing an electronic law journal for the serious, scholarly treatment of the Indigenous (Chthonic) Legal Tradition and the law “of” Indigenous Peoples, as opposed to the nation-state law “concerning,” “about,” or “for” Indian tribes. It addresses the challenges to both the enterprise of seeking to write and publish about an oral legal tradition and its emerging modern, and written, offshoot in an electronic format, and of doing so in an academic and technological setting that contradicts and opposes the enterprise. It lays out the thought, the vision, the obstacles, and the concerns of the endeavor.

Written Testimony in Senate Hearing on Tribal Courts

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the Senate Indian Affairs Committee site:

Panel 1
MR. W. PATRICK RAGSDALE
Director, Office of Justice Services
Washington, DC

Accompanied by: MR. JOE LITTLE, Associate Deputy Director, Office of Justice Services-Division of Tribal Justice Support, U.S. Department of the Interior.

THE HONORABLE ROMAN DURAN
First Vice President, National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA), Albuquerque, NM

THE HONORABLE JOSEPH FLIES AWAY
Chief Judge, Hualapai Indian Tribe of Arizona

MS DORMA SAHNEYAH
Trbal Prosecutor, Hopi Tribe of Arizona

THE HONORABLE TERESA POULEY
President, Northwest Tribal Court Judges Association, Washington

THE HONORABLE JOHN ST. CLAIR
Chief Justice, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribal Court, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

NPR on Tribal Law and Order Act

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

From NPR:

Native American women are far more likely to be raped than other women — and tribal officials say many incidents on reservations across the country go unreported and uninvestigated, NPR’s Laura Sullivan reported a year ago on All Things Considered.

The Justice Department estimates that 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped in her lifetime, and most victims who do report their assaults describe their attackers as non-Native. Legally, tribal authorities can do little to stop them. Chickasaw Tribal Police Chief Jason O’Neal told NPR in 2007 that “many of the criminals know Indian lands are almost a lawless community that they can do whatever they want.”

For the past year, the Senate has held hearings on reservations nationwide on how to stop the assaults. The resulting legislation, called the Tribal Law and Order Act, was introduced in the Senate on Wednesday by Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, who is chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Continue reading →

Senate Indian Affairs Hearing on Tribal Courts

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is holding a hearing this morning on tribal courts.

The hearing starts at 9:30am and will be broadcast online at http://indian.senate.gov/public/webcast.ram. The witness list follows:

Panel 1
MR. W. PATRICK RAGSDALE
Director, Office of Justice Services
Accompanied by: MR. JOE LITTLE, Associate Deputy Director, Office of Justice Services-Division of Tribal Justice Support, U.S. Department of the Interior.

THE HONORABLE ROMAN DURAN
First Vice President, National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA), Albuquerque, NM

THE HONORABLE JOSEPH FLIES AWAY
Chief Judge, Hualapai Indian Tribe of Arizona MS DORMA SAHNEYAH
Trbal Prosecutor, Hopi Tribe of Arizona

THE HONORABLE TERESA POULEY
President, Northwest Tribal Court Judges Association, Washington

THE HONORABLE JOHN ST. CLAIR Chief Justice, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribal Court, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

Committee Notice:
OVERSIGHT HEARING on Tribal Courts and the Administration of Justice in Indian Country (July 24, 2008 )