Turtle Talk

There’s a powerful dog whistle attacking American Indian families and tribes who assert their rights to keep Native children with Native families under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Increasingly, foster and adoptive parents are fighting those families and tribes who seek to reunite with their children by claiming to be “the only family the child has ever known.” It was the racism in the child welfare system against Indian families that initially compelled Congress to establish ICWA in 1978. Now, as America continues to grapple with its racist history and systems of white supremacy, it’s time for courts to see through racist dog whistles and prioritize families of color.

Ninth Circuit Decides Crow Indian Tribe v. United States [Grizzly Bear Delisting]

July 8, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion. The court affirmed the district court’s order to remand the decision back to Fish and Wildlife Service.

Here are the briefs.

CARES Act Fund Distribution to ANCs Stayed Pending Appeal

July 8, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the new materials in Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation v. Mnuchin (D.D.C.):

99 Chelahis Motion for Stay Pending Appeal

107 DCT Order on Stay

Prior post here.

Ninth Circuit Briefs in Yakama Nation Reservation Boundaries Case

July 8, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the briefs in Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation v. Klickitat County :

Yakama Opening Brief

County Opening Brief

US Amicus Brief

Lower court materials here.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting: “Pommersheim Talks Legal Battle Between Tribe & Government”

July 7, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. This is part 2. Part 1 is here.

Crosscut Article on Greer Case

July 7, 2020July 7, 2020ilpc

Here

ICWA was thereafter applied to the case, but the damage was done — the children were placed in foster care without the normal protections the law would have offered them. Now, the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska are challenging the decision in the Washington State Supreme Court. If the court’s decision is upheld, advocates say the case could significantly weaken the use of ICWA in Washington by raising the bar for what qualifies as a “reason to know” that a child is “Indian” in the eyes of the law.

Kathryn Fort, director of Michigan State’s Indian Law Clinic, who is arguing on behalf of the tribes in the case involving Greer and Graham, says that it shouldn’t be so difficult. The burden of checking in with a tribe is low, she says, but the outcome has immense implications for the family, children and tribe.

Briefing and oral arguments here.