From Indianz:
Bailey defeated incumbent chairman Robert Kewaygoshkum in a second matchup that was ordered by the tribal court. He won by 70 votes, after losing by 23 votes in a disputed election in May. At 35, Bailey will be the youngest person to serve as chair. The term lasts four years.
Get the Story:
Challenger elected tribal chairperson (The Traverse City Record-Eagle 9/26)
Tribal Court Decision:
Bailey v. GTB Election Board (August 8, 2008)
Ugghhh. I wish we just had one election, instead of two or more every time….
From the Record-Eagle (H/T Indianz):
PESHAWBESTOWN — Members of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians will have another shot at selecting a tribal chairman today.
A tribal court in August ruled the band’s election board improperly censured candidate Derek Bailey shortly before the initial vote in May. A new election was ordered, and polls will be open today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Peshawbestown, East Jordan, Traverse City and Benzonia.
Bailey lost by 23 votes to two-term incumbent chairman Robert Kewaygoshkum in the regularly scheduled May 21 election. But Bailey challenged the results because the band’s election board issued an e-mail censuring him for using a tribal computer to visit his campaign Web site.
The mass e-mail was sent less than 24 hours before the election to all tribal gambling and government employees. A tribal appeals court eventually ruled the action was “far outside the scope of the authority granted to the election board under the Constitution.”
Bailey, who served as a tribal councilman before running for chairman, is pleased to see the new election.
A badly divided Louisiana Supreme Court held that state courts need not apply the tribal court exhaustion doctrine in Mayer and Assoc. v. Coushatta Tribe (opinion).
The Eighth Circuit held in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. C&W Enterprises that the tribe waived its immunity from suit in an enforcement action in state court despite the fact that the tribe had not expressly waived its immunity via the contract. Here are the materials:
This May the Coquille Tribe on Oregon’s Southern Coast adopted a policy recognizing same-sex marriages.
It’s believed to be the first tribe in the country to do so. As Andrew Theen reports, one tribal member and her partner plan to be legally married in Oregon next spring.
Kitzen and Jeni Branting have been together for over a decade. They are domestic partners in the state of Washington where they live, and Jeni already changed her last name to Branting.
Since May Jeni has already been recognized as a tribal spouse. She is eligible for the tribe’s healthcare benefits.
From the Wenatchee World:
NESPELEM — A judge for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation has upheld an administrative law judge’s decision ordering the tribe to rehire and give backpay to five employees who were fired during budget cuts last November.
But the July 23 ruling by Colville Tribal Chief Judge Steven Aycock also asks the employees and tribal government to “sit down and discuss a resolution that all can live with” given the tribe’s budget troubles.
Aycock wrote that relief is “problematic,” due to the tribes’ financial problems. “The positions are not budgeted. No monies have been budgeted for backpay,” he wrote. Instead, he’s asked each party to file a recommendation for appropriate relief within 60 days, and the court will revisit the issue of relief on Sept. 15.
Here is the news article. An excerpt:
A federal judge might be the last hope for banished members of the Snoqualmie Tribe who appeared in court Tuesday in their effort to regain tribal membership.
U.S. District Court Judge James L. Robart said he would issue a written ruling later as to whether the case is even properly before him or should be dismissed.
Only then — if he rules in favor of the banished members — would he get to the merits of the case.
And here are the materials:
petition-for-writ-of-habeas-corpus
snoqualmie-rule-19-motion-to-dismiss [!!!]
Here is the relevant change:
In our earlier opinions, we declined to require Plaintiffs to exhaust their tribal court remedies. Instead, we held that the Blackfeet Tribe had waived tribal immunity through the enabling ordinance that established the Housing Authority. Marceau II, 519 F.3d at 842-44; Marceau I, 455 F.3d at 978-83; see also Kiowa Tribe of Okla. v. Mfg. Techs., Inc., 523 U.S. 751, 754 (1998) (noting that “an Indian tribe is subject to suit only where Congress has authorized the suit or the tribe has waived its immunity”). Our doing so was in error, and we now vacate that holding and decline to reach the issue. Whether or not the Tribe waived tribal immunity, the tribal court must have the first opportunity to address all issues within its jurisdiction, including that one.
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.
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
Turtle Talk 
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