TCJ: “More than an Education: Three Tribal College Graduates Blaze Paths to Law School”

Monica Williamson

Like TCUs, PLSI is affected by education policy because it too depends on federal funding for a portion of its operating budget. Both TCUs and PLSI have continued to operate for more than 50 years, opening transformative doors for Native students. Felisha Adams, Amber Morningstar Byars, and Mariah Black Bird are on their way to becoming Native American lawyers, and all three have benefited from a tribal college education and PLSI.

Article here.

Lawsuit Challenging the Administration’s Withdrawal of the 2016 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)

Kate Fort

Here is the Complaint. Plaintiffs include California Tribal Family Coalition, Cherokee Nation, and Yurok Tribe along with a number of LGBTQ+ organizations. 

Here is a link to all of our previous posts on AFCARS

Similarly, Defendants eliminated most questions related to how child welfare agencies treat children to whom ICWA applies. Although ACF had in 2016 found these questions essential to guide its allocation of resources to help AI/AN youth, Defendants abandoned them without any discussion of the value of the information being lost for AI/AN youth and the tribes seeking to protect them.

The Indian Law Clinic represents the plaintiffs in this case along with Democracy Forward and Lambda Legal.

Ninth Circuit Briefs in Kalispel Tribe of Indians v. Dept. of the Interior

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Kalispel Opening Brief

Spokane Tribe Answer Brief

Interior Answer Brief

Reply

Lower court materials here.

Attorney Statement Regarding the Execution of Lezmond Mitchell

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

“Today, the federal government added another chapter to its long history of injustices against Native American people. Over the steadfast objection of the Navajo Nation, and despite urgent pleas for clemency from Navajo leaders and many other Native American tribes, organizations, and citizens, the Trump Administration executed Lezmond Mitchell, a Navajo man, for a crime against other Navajo people committed on Navajo land.

“Mr. Mitchell’s execution represents a gross insult to the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation, whose leaders had personally called on the President to commute his sentence to life without possibility of release. The very fact that he faced execution despite the tribe’s opposition to a death sentence for him reflected the government’s disdain for tribal sovereignty.

“Mr. Mitchell’s execution came after the Supreme Court refused to allow him to interview his jurors – 11 white people and a single Navajo – about whether racial bias influenced their decision. Yet we have little doubt that it did, because in their zealous pursuit of a death sentence for Mr. Mitchell, the federal prosecutors made arguments laced with anti-Indian stereotypes.

“We have been honored to meet and work with members of the Navajo Nation and many other Native American people who sought to halt Lezmond Mitchell’s execution. We hope that the future will bring greater respect for the sovereignty of Indian nations and for the traditions of their people.”

-Jonathan Aminoff and Celeste Bacchi, Deputy Federal Public Defenders, attorneys for Lezmond Mitchell
-August 26, 2020