Turtle Talk

Goldwater Litigation on the Constitutionality of ICWA Dismissed Without Prejudice

March 17, 2017March 17, 2017Kate Fort1 Comment

This is the attempted class action litigation claiming ICWA violated the Constitution.This is a big win for ICWA and the legal advocates who worked on this case at the state, federal, and tribal levels.

Here is the Order.

The legal questions Plaintiffs wish to adjudicate here in advance of injury to themselves will be automatically remediable for anyone actually injured. The very allegations of wrongfulness are that such injuries will arise in state court child custody proceedings, directly in the court processes or in actions taken by state officers under the control and direction of judges in those proceedings. Any true injury to any child or interested adult can be addressed in the state court proceeding itself, based on actual facts before the court, not on hypothetical concerns. If any Plaintiffs encounter future real harm in their own proceedings, the judge in their own case can discern the rules of decision. They do not have standing to have this Court pre-adjudicate for state court judges how to rule on facts that may arise and that may be governed by statutes or guidelines that this Court may think invalid.

Here is the joint press release from the ICWA Defense Project.

On the Minnesota SCT Rule 10 Proposed Revisions on Recognizing Tribal Court Orders and Judgments

March 17, 2017March 27, 2017Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Link: Proposed Rule 10

The Minnesota Tribal Court State Court forum is petitioning the Minnesota Supreme Court for a new and improved rule on the recognition of tribal court judgments in state courts, known as Rule 10 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice. The existing rule was adopted in 2003, and it fell far short of what advocates sought at the time. At the time, Professor Washburn was critical of the outcome as not being sufficiently respectful of tribal court judgments. In this article, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2935279, Washburn and Chloe Thompson explained that the rule was far less respectful than Arizona’s equivalent rule and speculated as to why Minnesota’s rule would be less respectful than Arizona’s. Washburn characterized Rule 10 as providing wide discretion and little guidance to Minnesota District Courts. According to a letter submitted on the rule, Professor Washburn finds the new proposed Rule 10 to be much improved and believes that it addresses most of the concerns about the previous rule. He urges the Minnesota Supreme Court to adopt the improved rule.
The comment period closes today. The next step is consideration of the petition by the Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committee on General Rules of Practice. A public hearing on the petition will be held by the advisory committee on March 31, 2017 at the Minnesota Judicial Center.

Friday Job Announcements

March 17, 2017March 17, 2017Sarah M Donnelly

Job vacancies are posted on Friday. Some announcements might still appear throughout the week. If you would like your Indian law job posted on Turtle Talk, please email indigenous@law.msu.edu.

Tohono O’odham Nation

Part Time Attorneys, Advocate Program, Sellz, AZ. Provide legal aid and criminal defense to tribal members.

Anishinabe Legal Services

Staff Attorney, Cass Lake, MN. Providing free legal assistance and court representation to low-income individuals living on or near the Leech Lake, White Earth and Red Lake Indian Reservations in northern Minnesota. Applications are preferred by April 10th but will be accepted until the position is filled.

Seattle University Center for Indian Law & Policy

Indian Wills Paid Summer Internship, Seattle University School of Law, WA. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis beginning Jan 1, 2017 and will continue until all positions are filled.

Little River Band of Ottawa Indians

Paid Summer Legal Intern, Manistee, MI. Will assist the Unified Legal Department in its role as in-house legal counsel to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Applications must be received by April 30, 2017, 5:00 p.m. EST. Applications will be reviewed on a revolving basis until the position(s) is filled.

Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria

Chief of Police, Loleta, CA. Responsible for leading the entire Public Safety Department and carries all duties and functions of the department. Apply here.

Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians

Paid Summer Law Interns, Valley Center, CA. Will assist the Attorney General to research and draft Tribal ordinances, policies and resolutions and prepare legal memoranda on a wide-variety of legal matters handled by the office. Applications are due by close of business on May 1, 2017.

The Onion: “Newly Discovered Journal Entries Reveal Sacagawea’s Repeated Attempts To Ditch Lewis And Clark”

March 16, 2017Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Breaking Ground at Standing Rock: The Dakota Access Pipeline and Environmental Justice

March 16, 2017Sarah M Donnelly

Download(PDF): Flyer

ABA Environmental Justice Committee’s upcoming teleconference “BREAKING GROUND AT STANDING ROCK: The Dakota Access Pipeline and Environmental Justice” is taking place on April 13, 3:00PM- 4:00PM (EST).

New Article on Structural Racism and Court Appointed Special Advocates

March 16, 2017Kate Fort

If you sat in on a class I taught last week, you’d know this is my new favorite article:

Here.

This paper turns attention away from discussions of the race and economic poverty of the families most affected by the system, and instead looks at the impact of the race and privilege of these volunteer child advocates on child welfare decision-making

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) are volunteers appointed by the court in child welfare cases to argue for a child’s best interests. There are many issues with this system, and I have been in many loud arguments about it (some of you have witnessed them). This article identifies many of those concerns and grounds them in the history of state child welfare systems–including how those systems affect Indian children.

As a side note, I know people personally who have worked hard to develop Tribal CASA programs. Those programs are particularly sensitive to ensuring their volunteers understand the culture of the tribe and their children, which counters the issues inherent in state systems. This article is specifically discussing the issue of CASAs in state systems.

Michigan Superintendent of Schools Seeks to Fine Schools That Don’t Drop Mascots

March 16, 2017Kate Fort

Article here.

This is primarily in response to the most recent action of the Paw Paw School Board to retain their racist mascot (after a particularly contentious Board meeting). Article here.

This is also after the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (under the leadership of Matt Wesaw) attempted to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, which was dismissed.