trust relationship

Materials in Cook Inlet Tribal Council Suit against Indian Health Service

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Cook Inlet Tribal Council v. Mandregan (D.D.C.):

1 Complaint

13-1 Tribe MSJ

15 IHS Cross MSJ

18 Tribe Reply

21 IHS Reply

39 DCT Order

40 Tribe Bill of Costs

41 Tribe Motion for Atty Fees

42 IHS Response to 40

43 IHS Motion for Reconsideration

44 Tribe Reply in Support of 41

51 Tribe Cross Motion for Reconsideration

58 IHS Response to 41

60 IHS Reply in Support of 43

61 Tribe Reply in Support of 41

65 DCT Order

Federal Court Refuses to Allow Law Firm to Intervene in Trust Breach Suit to Collect Fees against Tribe

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Yankton Sioux Tribe v. Bernhardt (D.D.C.):

69 Herman Law Motion to Intervene

72 Yankton Response

74 Reply

88 Yankton Supplemental Brief

90 Herman Law Supplemental Brief

110 DCT Order

Update in San Pasqual Band Membership Suits

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Alegre v. United States (S.D. Cal.):

44 second Amended Complaint

46-1 US Motion to Dismiss

48 Response

49 Reply

50-1 Individual Defendants MTD

53 Response

59 DCT Order Dismissing SAC

62 Third Amended Complaint

68-1 US Motion to Dismiss

79 Response

83 Individual Defendants Reply

85 US Reply

98 DCT Order Dismissing Third Amended Complaint

Federal Circuit Rejects Indian Leaseholder Claims

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Moody v. United States.

Briefs:

Opening Brief

US Answer Brief

Reply Brief

Lower court materials here.

Interior & Spokane Tribe Prevail over Spokane County & Kalispel Tribe re: Spokane Casino

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Kalispel Tribe of Indians v. Dept. of Interior (E.D. Wash.):

79 Kalispe MSJ

82 Spokane County MSJ

96 Spokane Tribe Cross MSJ

98 DOI Cross MSJ

113 Kalispel Reply

114 Spokane County Reply

115 Spokane Tribe Reply

116 DOI Reply

118 DCT Order

We posted the complaint here.

Nooksack Update: Rabang v. Kelly II (9th Cir.); Doucette v. Bernhardt (W.D. Wash))

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

District court materials (prior post here):

28 Doucette v. Bernhardt 3-7-19 Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment

32 Doucette v. Bernhardt 4-18-19 Defendants’ Consolidated Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment and in Support of Defendants’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment

33 Doucette v. Bernhardt 5-10-19 Plaintiffs’ Consolidated Reply in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment and in Opposition to Defendants’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment

34 Doucette v. Bernhardt 5-31-19 Reply re Defendants’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment

Ninth Circuit materials:

35 Rabang v. Kelly II 6-13-19 Stay Order

Federal Claims Court Finds US Breached Investment Duty to Western Shoshone

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Western Shoshone Identifiable Group v. United States (Fed. Cl.):

34 Second Amended Complaint

37 DCT Order Denying Motion to Dismiss

151 Plaintiffs Post Trial Brief

156 US Post Trial Brief

157 Plaintiff Reply

173 DCT Order

Interior Starts Process to Undo Eagle Act Regulations to Allow Non-Indians to Access Eagle Feathers

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the notice:

2019-04-30 FR

An excerpt:

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received a petition for rulemaking, which asks the Service to revise the existing rules pertaining to the religious use of federally protected bird feathers. The petition is being published pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement entered into in 2016 by the United States with McAllen Grace Brethren Church and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Any changes to existing rules will be subject to a public comment period, and tribal consultation consistent with Executive Order 13175 and the Department of the Interior Policy on Consultation with Indian Tribes. The Service seeks comments on the petition.

New GAO Report Recommending Improved Tribal Consultation on Federal Pipeline Projects

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the report.

Update:

Fletcher Book Review — ” Protectors: The Indian Trust and Killers of the Flower Moon”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

My review of David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon has been published in the Michigan Law Review. You can download the paper here or here.

An excerpt:

Killers of the Flower Moon will be an eye-opener for those who are not aware of what it means for the United States to shirk its duties to Indian people. Osage people alive today are direct victims of the Osage Reign of Terror (pp. 280–91). Grann’s book tells an interesting story about the early days of the FBI, the development of early criminal investigation techniques, and the slow death of frontier injustice and corruption. It is a story ripe for a suspenseful and entertaining film. But Killers of the Flower Moon could be so much more. For whatever reason—be it the fame of the author, the focus on major American historical figures like J. Edgar Hoover, or the fact that the FBI is investigating the current president—Grann’s work has the attention of much of the American public. Killers of the Flower Moon should be a call to action for the United States to take its duty of protection seriously, but instead the stories of real American Indian lives are a framing mechanism for a true-crime FBI story. Indian tribes standing against the political winds that threaten the trust relationship, the duty of protection the ancestors negotiated for in the nineteenth century, deserve more. The thousands of American Indian women who suffer sexual assaults every year and the thousands of American Indian children who witness and suffer violence every year deserve much more.

Continuing thanks to Wilson Pipestem and Alex Skibine.