Turtle Talk

Mike Huckabee invoked Andrew Jackson in encouraging the President to not comply with federal court orders striking the Muslim travel ban, saying “Hoping @POTUS tells Hawaii judge what Andrew Jackson told overreaching court-“I’ll ignore it and let the court enforce their order.”, invoking the aftermath of Worcester v. Georgia, in which the Supreme Court held that Georgia could not prosecute a white man (Worcester) for setting foot in Cherokee Indian country without its permission.

Like the President, Mr. Huckabee should look into history to see not only how offensive that statement is to both Indian people and to the integrity of United States, but how President Jackson ultimately and completely capitulated to the Supreme Court.

Here is Justice Breyer’s retelling of the incident:

But then North Carolina . . . said, “We will not give the United States customs duties that we owe them because we prefer to keep them. Andrew Jackson woke up to the problem and he ended up saying to the governor of Georgia, You must release Worcester.” They had a negotiation and Worcester was let out of jail.

Stephen G. Breyer, Reflections of a Junior Justice, 54 Drake L. Rev. 7, 9 (2005). In short, once President Jackson realized that South Carolina heard his comment about the Supreme Court enforcing their own orders and were ready to stop paying federal tariffs, he contacted Georgia Governor Lumpkin privately and asked him to release Worcester. He also got Congress to pass a “Force Act,” authorizing him to use the military against South Carolina to enforce those federal tariffs. He effectively capitulated to the Supreme Court in order to save the Union, leaving that mess for future Presidents.

And, finally, here is Chief Justice Marshall’s private mockery of Andrew Jackson after the President had capitulated:

Imitating the Quaker who said the dog he wished to destroy was mad, they said Andrew Jackson had become a Federalist, even an ultra-Federalist. To have said he was ready to break down and trample on every other department of the government would not have injured him, but to say that he was a Federalist–a convert to the opinions of Washington, was a mortal blow under which he is yet staggering.

David Loth, Chief Justice: John Marshall and the Growth of the Republic 368 (1949) (quoting a letter from Chief Justice Marshall to Justice Story). The Chief Justice was near death when he wrote this letter, and months earlier had believed that President Jackson’s refusal to enforce the Court’s order in Worcester was going to be the end of the Court, and perhaps the Constitution, and perhaps the Union. This letter expressed his relief that the Worcester order would be enforced, and his mockery of President Jackson for seemingly turning on his states’ rights ideology.

National Indian Law Library Bulletin (3/17/2017)

March 18, 2017Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

The National Indian Law Library added new content to the Indian Law Bulletins on 3/17/17.

The Tribal Supreme Court Project has added the following information:
* The Nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States – An Indian Law Perspective
* Gorsuch: Summary of Indian Law Cases
Find at the Project website under Updates and Articles.

U.S. Federal Courts Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/federal/2017.html
Tavares v. Whitehouse (Indian Civil Rights Act – Exclusion of Members)
Round Valley Indian Tribes of California v. United States Department of Transportation (Public Transportation Project – Sacred Places)
Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Runyon (Necessary Party; Fishing Rights)
Frank’s Landing Indian Community v. National Indian Gaming Commission (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act – Indian Tribe)

News Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/news/currentnews.html
In the Economic Development section, we feature an article about a Washington State case confirming treaty rights to travel and trade across state lines free from taxation.

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/lawreviews/2017.html
Mediating NAGPRA: Bringing cultural consideration back to the table.
Pueblo Indian water rights: Charting the unknown.
Valuing sacred tribal waters within prior appropriation.
Religious accommodation, religious tradition, and political polarization.
Concealed carry to reduce sexual violence against American Indian women.
Key Indian child welfare resources.
The importance of measuring case outcomes in Indian Child Welfare cases.
Strengthening Indian children and families: Lessons from tribal court.
Improving outcomes in Indian Child Welfare cases: Strategies for state-tribe collaboration.
Legal challenges to ICWA: An analysis of current case law.
How the new ICWA regulations impact practice.
Understanding the 2016 Indian Child Welfare Act Regulations.
Tribal jurisdiction and the unauthorized practice of law.

U.S. Legislation Bulletin
http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/legislation/115_uslegislation.html
Six bills were added:
S.607: A bill to establish a business incubators program within the Department of the Interior to promote economic development in Indian reservation communities.
H.R.1581: To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to add access to telecommunications and information services in Indian country and areas with high populations of Indian people to the universal service principle relating to access to such services in rural, insular, and high cost areas.
H.R.1528: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportunities for Native American Indians.
S.664: A bill to approve the settlement of the water rights claims of the Navajo in Utah, to authorize construction of projects in connection therewith, and for other purposes.
H.R.1491: To reaffirm the action of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for the benefit of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians, and for other purposes.
H.R.1532: To reaffirm that certain land has been taken into trust for the benefit of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and for other purposes.