Turtle Talk

The 2021 Colorado Book Awards Finalist Celebration and Winners Announcement is right around the corner! This year we are delighted to honor Charles Wilkinson with the Colorado Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the Colorado and national literary, history, and legal communities. Writer, advocate, and distinguished university professor emeritus, Wilkinson is the author of numerous articles, chapters, and books, including Messages from Frank’s Landing and Blood Struggle—the Rise of Modern Indian Nations, winners of the 2000 and 2006 Colorado Book Awards respectively for History.

Charles earned his law degree from Stanford University in 1966. He moved to Colorado in 1971 to help found and serve as a Staff Attorney for the Native America Rights Fund and began teaching at University of Colorado in 1984, becoming the Moses Lasky Professor of Law in 1989. In 1997, he was named by the Regents of the University of Colorado a Distinguished Professor. In his over 32 continuous years at Colorado Law, Charles has become one of the most widely celebrated names in not only American Indian law, but also in the history of the American West, public land law, water law, and environmental law—even being labeled by Outside Magazine as “the West’s leading authority on natural resource law.”

Mark your calendars for an online evening of celebrating Colorado’s literary greatness!

June 26, beginning at 5 p.m. with a toast to the finalists, Colorado Book Award Winners will be announced and read briefly from their work. Charles Wilkinson will speak and read briefly in recognition of his lifetime achievement.

Learn more at coloradohumanities.org/programs/colorado-book-awards/

Thank you to our partner, BookBar Denver, and sponsors, Outskirts Press and The Colorado Sun.

Colorado Humanities is the only Colorado organization exclusively dedicated to supporting humanities education for adults and children statewide. Celebrating its 47th year and its 17th year as host for the Colorado Center for the Book, Colorado Humanities is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of Congress Center for the Book, the Smithsonian Institution, and the national award-winning educational nonprofit Motheread, Inc. Colorado Humanities works with 100 program partners throughout the state to design and implement programs that best meet each community’s needs. Colorado Humanities’ goals are to improve education, strengthen cultural institutions, and enrich community life by inspiring the people of Colorado to explore ideas and appreciate our diverse heritage.

Federal Court Dismisses Wrongful Termination Action against Leech Lake Ojibwe

June 29, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Butler v. Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (D. Minn.):

1 Complaint

13 Motion to Dismiss

19 DCT Order

NYTs: “Training the Next Generation of Indigenous Data Scientists”

June 29, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Ninth Circuit Briefs in Newtok Village v. Patrick

June 29, 2021November 11, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Appellant Brief

Appellee Brief

Lower court materials here.

Kongiganack Tribal Village Judge John Phillip Sr. Walks On

June 28, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Honorable Judge John Phillip, Sr. Walks On, 6/24/2021

Honorable Judge John Phillip of the Traditional Village of Kongiganak died June 25, 2021 peacefully at home in his native village in Kongiganak, Alaska.

Judge Phillip began serving as one of three first judges in the small coastal village over 30 years ago. The Traditional Village of Kongiganak is a coastal village near the mouth of the Bering Sea and the Kukokwim River in Southwest Alaska.

Judge Phillip is believed to have been the oldest living tribal judge in the United States and served his community through peaceful and wise traditional love. Judge Phillip is also believed to have been the longest serving tribal judge in Alaska, having served the Kongiganak Tribal Court for 30+ years, oftentimes as a volunteer when the Kongiganak Tribal Court had no funding to pay judges.

His quiet passion for justice was delivered in his Yup’ik language, and when Judge Phillip spoke, his reverent respect for justice was felt whether he was translated or not. His wisdom will be truly missed in the village and throughout Alaska.

Judge John Phillip, Sr. was 95 years old.

SCOTUS Denies Cert in Two Indian Law Cases

June 28, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is today’s order list.

Here are the cert petitions in the two denied cases, Phillips v. Oneida Indian Nation and Pierson v. Hudson Insurance Company (Pierson Cert Petition).