Turtle Talk

Briefs here.

New Litman & Fletcher Article in The Atlantic on ICWA

January 22, 2020Neoshia Roemer

In today’s The Atlantic, Professors Leah Litman and Matthew Fletcher discuss the continued Brackeen v. Bernhardt ICWA litigation in the 5th Circuit and how it’s an ongoing attack on tribal sovereignty. Read it here.

Gregory Ablavsky on the Presentment Clause and Tomorrow’s Argument in Brackeen

January 21, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “Brackeen, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the Presentment Clause: A Very Pink Herring” on SLS blogs.

An excerpt:

If the Presentment Clause bars Congress from honoring the divergent policy judgments of other sovereigns, then federalism is in trouble. After all, as the briefs stress and the Supreme Court has explicitly endorsed, Congress has expressly adopted state law as federal law in the Assimilative Crimes Act and the Federal Tort Claims Act. It has expressly authorized states to create wage and hour standards higher than the federal government in the Federal Labor Standards Act. It has allowed states to establish different water and air quality standards from the federal government upon EPA approval, a power that the Court has repeatedly ruled on without saying boo.

ILPC Spring Speaker Series: Nova Wilson and Sam Deloria

January 21, 2020Monica Williamson

Today, 11:30-1pm in the Castle Board Room at MSU Law. PDF flyer here. TTJanSpringSpeaker2020_02

Cherokee Nation Trust Breach Suit Survives Federal Motion to Dismiss

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Cherokee Nation v. Dept. of the Interior (D.D.C.):

1 Complaint

34-1 MTD

39-cherokee-opposition-to-mtd.pdf

41-reply.pdf

42-denial-of-the-us-mtd.pdf

NYTs: “Rural Montana Had Already Lost Too Many Native Women. Then Selena Disappeared.”

January 20, 2020January 20, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Wisconsin Law Dean Search Announcement

January 20, 2020January 20, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

As TT readers know, Wisconsin has a robust Indian law program.

Article on Posthumous Pardon for Tribal Attorney Don Gellers

January 20, 2020Kate Fort

Here.

Donald Gellers died of cancer at the age of 78 in 2014. During his lifetime, he never asked for a pardon. But in October, Gellers’ attorney, relatives and members of the Passamaquoddy tribe appeared on his behalf to ask the governor’s pardon board to grant him one and to end what has been described by journalist Colin Woodard as “one of the most sordid episodes in Maine legal history.” Woodard has written extensively about the case for the Maine Sunday Telegram.