Turtle Talk

Job vacancies are posted on Fridays. Any posts received prior to 12pm EST on Friday will appear in that Friday’s announcements. If you would like to submit a post for an Indian law or leadership job, please send a PDF job announcement and a brief description of job to indigenous@law.msu.edu.

Spirit Lake Tribe

Prosecutor, Fort Totten, N.D. The Spirit Lake Nation is hiring a Prosecutor to perform all phases of criminal prosecution of offenses committed in violation of the Spirit Lake Tribe Criminal Code within the jurisdiction of the Spirit Lake Tribe. The Prosecutor will be responsible for present and prosecuting all criminal complaints in tribal court, along with other duties as prescribed. A J.D. from an accredited degree and state bar membership are required. Please see the job announcement, or visit the website, for more information about the job and how to apply.

Zuni Pueblo

Attorney, Zuni, N.M. The Zuni Pueblo is seeking a part-time prosecutor with three years or more trial experience and qualifications sufficient to be admitted to practice before the Zuni Tribal Court in Zuni, New Mexico. Email letter of interest and resume to dfc@catchlaw.com.

New Mexico Court of Appeals Staff Attorney

THE NEW MEXICO COURT OF APPEALS is seeking applications for a full-time Associate Staff Attorney position. The position will be located in Albuquerque. Regardless of experience, the beginning salary is limited to $66,000, plus generous fringe benefits. New Mexico Bar admission as well as three years of practice or post-law-school judicial clerkship experience is required. The position entails management of a heavy caseload of appeals covering all areas of law considered by the Court. Extensive legal research and writing is required; the work atmosphere is congenial yet intellectually demanding. Interested applicants should submit a completed New Mexico Judicial Branch Application for Employment, along with a letter of interest, resume, law school transcript, and short writing sample of no more than 5 pages to Paul Fyfe, Chief Staff Attorney, P.O. Box 2008, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504, no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 25, 2018. The materials may also be submitted by email to coapgf@nmcourts. gov. To obtain the application please call 827- 4875 or visit www.nmcourts.com and click on “Job Opportunities.” The New Mexico Judicial Branch is an equal opportunity employer.

DNA People’s Legal Services

Staff Attorney, Flagstaff, A.Z. and Farmington, N.M. DNA People’s Legal Services is seeking a Staff Attorney to represent clients in court or before government agencies, prepare and draft legal documents, advise clients on business and legal transactions, negotiate settlements for legal disputes, comply with all legal standards and regulations, perform administrative and management functions related to the practice of law. J.D. and bar membership required. Starting salary is $37,500. Please see the announcement for more information.

Public Defender Managing Attorney, Keams Canyon, A.Z. DNA-PEOPLE’S LEGAL SERVICES (DNA), a non-profit legal services program, is accepting applications for a Public Defender Managing Attorney position in our Hopi Public Defenders office, Keams Canyon, Arizona. The Hopi Public Defenders office serves the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona. J.D. and bar membership required. Please see the announcement for more information.

Finance Director, Window Rock, A.Z. The Director of Finance is a full-time position that provides overall financial management and analysis for DNA. The position will oversee annual budget of $4 Million and review all financial transactions; perform complex budgeting and accounting functions, conduct financial, statistical and analytical studies and projections; prepare financial reports for management, the board and others; oversee all DNA law offices budgets in the preparation for and execution of the annual audit, tax and other regulatory filings; periodically consult with the program team on financial reports of grantees; and ensure that DNA adheres to the best, most reliable and most transparent financial policies and procedures.

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians (Employment Application)

Deputy Solicitor General, Onamia, M.N. The Deputy Solicitor General performs legal work involving interpreting laws and regulations; preparing legal opinions, briefs, and other legal documents; rendering legal advice and counsel; consulting with trial attorneys; assisting in preparing cases for trial; drafting bills for legislative consideration; and assisting the Solicitor General in managing the affairs and duties of the function of Solicitor General. A J.D. and bar membership are required. Please see the announcement for more details.

Senior Deputy Solicitor General, Onamia, M.N. The Senior Deputy Solicitor General performs legal work involving interpreting laws and regulations; preparing legal opinions, briefs, and other legal documents; rendering legal advice and counsel; consulting with trial attorneys; assisting in preparing cases for trial; drafting bills for legislative consideration; and assisting the Solicitor General in managing the affairs and duties of the function of Solicitor General. A J.D. and bar membership are required. Please see the announcement for more details.

Tonkawa Tribal Committee

Substance Abuse Program Director, Tonkawa, O.K. The Substance Abuse Program (SAP) Director is in charge of managing and operating the Substance Abuse Program with services including, but are not limited to, assessment, treatment planning, individual and group therapy for clients and their families, educational presentations, and therapeutic interventions. Please see the job announcement for more information.

MSPI Coordinator/Counselor, Tonkawa, O.K. The Meth and Suicide Prevention (MSPI) Director is in charge of managing and operating the MSPI Program, establishing and maintaining the Tribal MSPI Program, and provides methamphetamine and suicide prevention services to the youth and young adults. Please see the job announcement for more information.

MSPI Assistant, Tonkawa, O.K. The Meth and Suicide Prevention (MSPI) Assistant provides culturally sensitive services to Native Youth and young adults under the age of 25. The MSPI Assistant will support young people, work with them and their families, help them build healthy connections, and provide activities that will help prevent methamphetamine use and suicides. Subject to evening and weekend assignments. Please see the job announcement for more information.

Tohono O’odham Nation

Legal Assistant, Office of Attorney General, Sells, A.Z. The Tohono O’odham Office of Attorney General is hiring one (1) Legal Assistant. The Office of Attorney General represents the interests of the Tohono O’odham Nation in tribal, state, and federal venues. The Legal Assistant will assist attorneys in all aspects of tribal governance with an emphasis on Child Welfare cases. Salary is $35,004 to $43,715 DOE. Please see the announcement for more information.

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

District Court Judge, Mashpee, M.A. This position is a per diem position. A District Court Judge shall be appointed for a term of (5) five years. A District Court Judge shall have the duty and power to conduct all court proceedings, and issue all orders and papers incident thereto, in order to administer justice in all matters within the jurisdiction of the Court. Please see the announcement for more information.

Last week’s postings: May 18, 2018.

North Dakota State Court Declines Jurisdiction over Bank’s Foreclosure of Trust Land at Turtle Mountain

May 25, 2018May 25, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Turtle Mountain State Bank v. Delorme:

Rolette County District Court Order

Carl Bogus: “Was Slavery a Factor in the Second Amendment?”

May 25, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Yes. That and killing Indians. Here, from the New York Times.

Greg Ablavsky Commentary on Upper Skagit Decision

May 25, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Gregory Ablavsky has posted “Upper Skagit v. Lundgren: Deceptively Straightforward Case Raises Fundamental Questions about Native Nations, History, and Sovereignty” on Stanford Law School’s blog.

Here are excerpts:

This decision provoked the ire of Justice Thomas, who, in a lengthy dissent, insisted that the immovable property exception did apply to tribes. Thomas’s rationale involved a deep dive into the history of international law, citing the principle’s enunciation not just in such well-known staples as Vattel’s 1758 Law of Nations but also in deep cuts like the works of Cornelius van Bynkershoek and Bartolus of Sassaferatto. (Sadly for connoisseurs of elaborately named international-law treatise writers, Samuel von Pufendorf failed to make the cut). Columbia’s Ronald Mann, writing in ScotusBlog, called this dissent a “tour de force of historical arguments.”

I’m not so convinced. Although I’m on record sharply questioning Justice Thomas’s constitutional history in Indian law more generally, I agree with Thomas that the immovable property exception has deep roots in international law. But I question his blithe assumption that the same principle did, or should, apply to tribes.

***

One consequence of Marshall’s ruling that tribes were “domestic dependent nations” was that Native nations were deprived the benefits of international law—including the immovable property exception. The history of U.S. westward expansion is largely the history of one sovereign—the United States—purchasing land within the territory of other sovereigns—Native nations. Yet, notwithstanding Thomas’s “six centuries of consensus” on the issue, the United States did not believe these purchases subjected these lands to tribal courts and law; it assumed that it now had jurisdiction as well as ownership over the land. And this was an assumption: unlike the transfers from France in the Louisiana Purchase or Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, for instance, which explicitly stated that they conveyed sovereignty as well as title, most Indian treaties spoke only of the boundaries of the land sold. There is, then, a bitter irony in Thomas’s invocation of Bushrod Washington’s 1824 statement that “the title to, and the disposition of real property, must be exclusively subject to the laws of the country where it is situated”—an irony only heightened when we recall that Marshall had decided Johnson v. M’Intosh, which unambiguously rejected that principle with respect to Native peoples, a year before.