Turtle Talk

If anyone would be interested in providing art for the poster and promotional materials for the TICA-ILPC Conference (coming up October 26-27! We’re going to have CLEs!), we would love to hear about it.

We use a painting and we pay the artist for the use of the work.

We print large posters of the art with the conference text and give them as gifts to attendees and presenters. It is also helpful if we are able to receive a high res scan of the work.

The deadline is Thursday, February 28th, 2018.

Please email indigenous@law.msu.edu with suggestions.

Draft Guidance on the Native American Children’s Safety Act

February 12, 2018Kate Fort

Here is the Dear Tribal Leader letter, the guidance, and the request for comments on it: Draft Guidance for NACSA

This bill and guidance puts certain requirements on tribes, tribal courts, and tribal social service agencies regarding foster care placements and background checks. There have been concerns about the feasibility of the requirements, primarily related to tribal access to individual state databases for the required checks. Here are the important listening session and comment dates (I have to assume that’s March 16, 2018, not 2017 for the written comment deadline):

Law360 on ICWA and Recent Legal Challenges

February 12, 2018Kate Fort

Here.

Fort says that a spate of suits involving the Goldwater Institute, while so far unsuccessful in winning a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court, are diverting tribes’ resources into lawsuits and rehashing old arguments about the constitutionality of the law and the right of tribes to govern their members.

“I don’t think that any of that is to the benefit of American Indian kids or families,” Fort said.

Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to Tribal Court Marriage Dissolution Proceeding [UPDATED]

February 12, 2018June 27, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in LaForge v. Gets Down (D. Mont.):

12 Morton Motion to Dismiss

21 Tribal Judges Motion to Dismiss

26 Order to Show Cause

27 Morton Response

28 Tribal Judges Response

29 LaForge Brief

30 Magistrate Report

31 Tribal Judges Objection

33 DCT Order

Update [6/26/2018]

31 Motion to File Evidence

34 Response

35 Magistrate Report

36 DCT Order

Ninth Circuit Briefs in Skokomish Indian Tribe v. Forsman

February 12, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Skokomish Opening Brief

Forsman Answer Brief

Skallam Tribes Amicus Brief

Lower court materials here.

Ninth Circuit Briefs in Protect Our Communities Foundation v. Loudermilk

February 12, 2018November 15, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Protect Our Communities Opening Brief

Federal Answer Brief

Tribe Answer Brief

Oral argument video here.

Lower court materials here.

Turtle Talk Indian Law News: Criminal Justice

February 11, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Criminal injustice. Police officers who flocked to Standing Rock to crush Indian protesters are giving each other awards. An all-white jury acquitted of murder a white farmer in Saskatchewan who shot and killed a young aboriginal man with car trouble who was asking for help. Oklahoma appeals Tenth Circuit decision affirming reservation boundaries because it wants to execute a tribal member. Muscogee (Creek) Nation police chief estimates tribe will need at least 200 more police officers as a result of the decision. A new short article for practitioners on practicing criminal law in tribal courts.

Tenth Circuit Affirms Conviction (again) for Mail Fraud against Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah

February 10, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the unpublished opinion in United States v. Zander.

Prior post here.

Carla Pratt to be Dean of Washburn Law School

February 9, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

From the law school’s website:

Pratt brings more than 20 years of experience to Washburn Law, including serving as law professor and associate dean for academic affairs at Dickinson Law, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and practicing law as a commercial litigator with the law firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP, Philadelphia, and as deputy attorney general in New Jersey. From 2012 to 2018, she served as an associate justice for the Supreme Court of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort Yates, North Dakota, where she heard appeals in cases relating primarily to tribal criminal law, family law, business law, and constitutional law.

National Indian Law Library Bulletin (2/8/2018)

February 9, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

The National Indian Law Library added new content to the Indian Law Bulletins on 2/8/18.

U.S. Supreme Court Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/sct/2017-2018update.html
Petition for certiorari was filed in Royal v. Murphy (Tribal Jurisdiction; Indian Reservation Boundaries) on 2/6/18.

U.S. Federal Courts Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/federal/2018.html
State of Texas v. Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act – Class II Gaming)
United States v. Board of Directors of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (Tribal Water Rights)
Citizen Potawatomi Nation v. State of Oklahoma (Gaming – Arbitration Award)

News Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/news/currentnews.html
In the Culture & Tradition section, we feature an article about the Transportation Security Administration’s commitment to improve respectful handling of Native American sacred objects.

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/lawreviews/2018.html

The “right” right to environmental protection: What we can discern from the American and Indian constitutional experience.
An Arctic peril: The pitfalls and potential of a fragmentary polar law.
Tribal sovereignty and gaming: A proposal to amend the National Labor Relations Act.
Responsible resource development: A strategic plan to consider social and cultural impacts of tribal extractive industry development.
A dollar for your thoughts: Dollar General and the Supreme Court’s struggle with tribal civil jurisdiction.

U.S. Legislation Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/legislation/115_uslegislation.html
The following bills were added:

H.R.4965: To establish best practices for State, tribal, and local governments participating in the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, and for other purposes.
H.R.4975: To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to provide for consultation with State, tribal, and local governments, the consideration of State, tribal, and local concerns, and the approval of post-shutdown decommissioning activities reports by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
H.R.4899: Access to Substance Abuse Treatment Act of 2018 (See Sec.4 A.i.)
H.R.4967: To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve nutrition in tribal areas and for other purposes.
S.2369: A bill to authorize aboriginal subsistence whaling pursuant to the regulations of the International Whaling Commission, and for other purposes.
S.2375: A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide outer burial receptacles for remains buried in National Parks, and for other purposes.

U.S. Regulatory Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/regulatory/2018.html
We feature a notice of the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs notice of tribal consultation on the Indian trust asset management demonstration project.