The second annual! A great opportunity for all of the attorneys who represent tribes in ICWA cases to get together and share information and develop relationships.
DOJ Prevails in Partial Motion for Summary Judgment in NCFA v. Jewell (Guidelines Litigation)
Order was issued on September 29th, but the Memorandum Opinion was issued today.
This Court DENIES Plaintiffs’ for Partial Summary Judgment because (1) Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the 2015 Guidelines, (2) the 2015 Guidelines are not “final agency action” within the meaning of the APA because they do not create legal rights and obligations, and (3) the 2015 Guidelines are non-binding interpretive rules not subject to APA notice-and-comment procedures.
Previous filings are here.
NIGC Internship Announcement
Details about the Summer 2016 internship program can be found here.
Report on the American Lands Council and the Anti-Indian Movement
Here. From the report:
The American Lands Council and the Anti-Indian Movement
A Special Report from Native Generational Change, the Montana Human Rights Network and the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.
The South Jordan, Utah-based American Lands Council (ALC) is known around the country for its campaigns to transfer control of federal lands to state governments. The Lands Council has drawn criticism for a plan that could cost state governments millions of dollars and open federal lands to aggressive resource extraction. However, the Lands Council has fostered a moderate public face by exempting certain lands from state takeover, including national parks, wilderness areas and Indian reservations.
On September 26 the American Lands Council’s “moderation” was thrown into question when Montana State Senator Jennifer Fielder promoted the group’s cause at a conference hosted by the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA) in Kalispell, Montana. The Wisconsin-based CERA is the most notorious organized anti-Indian group in the United States, dedicated to terminating tribal governments, abrogating treaties and turning management of tribal resources over to state government. The American Lands Council’s ties to the organized anti-Indian movement do not end with Fielder’s CERA conference appearance. The ALC has, in fact, directly promoted CERA leader Elaine Willman’s writings and policy strategies. ALC’s alliance with CERA again highlights the group’s ties to a broader far-right movement that threatens treaty rights, civil rights and environmental protection.
CERA’s conference also highlights another point – that by exposing anti-Indian bigotry, and organizing against it, Native and non-Native people can join together to turn back these threats to all of our communities. A protest organized by the Missoula-based Native Generational Change, and a series of exposes on CERA by the Montana Human Rights Network and the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, demonstrated how communities can put racist groups on the defensive and expose their weaknesses to public scrutiny.
Federal ICWA Cases Update Memo
We originally posted this when the first three lawsuits were filed. There have been two additional ones since then. Here is the memo with the most recent updates.
The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and the ICWA Appellate Project at Michigan State University College of Law—collectively known as the ICWA Defense Project—are working collaboratively to defend ICWA and the long overdue reforms to it introduced this year. This memo will summarize the pending litigation and describe some of the legal and communications strategies these partner organizations have developed to inform, advance, and unify a coordinated effort across Indian Country to respond to these attacks.
Here is a link to the page where we are keeping all of the PACER documents.
Wall Street Journal Article on ICWA Lawsuits
Here.
PDF copy here.
From the end of the article:
An Interior spokeswoman said Congress has determined it “is in the best interests of an Indian child to keep that child…with the child’s parents,” extended family and tribal community.
Kathryn Fort, a lawyer with the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University, defends the law and the guidelines. Ms. Fort said that before the law was passed, social workers would argue that it was in the “best interests” of an Indian child to be permanently removed from a house that was merely messy or lacked the most modern conveniences. “It’s really a way of allowing—and perpetuating—discrimination against Indians,” she said.
Supporters of the law say the adoption delays often required are part of its point. The law “demands excellence in how we treat Indian children,” said Matthew Newman, a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund. “That often requires a bit of time.”
Eleventh Circuit Briefs in Miccosukee Members’ Claims to Federal Tax Immunity
Here are the materials in Cypress v. United States:
Lower court materials here:
Moapa Paiute Settlement Closes Coal Power Plant
Materials in The Moapa Band of Paiute Indians v. Nevada Power:
No. 114 – Order Granting Joint Motion to Approve Settlement
The settlement includes $4.3 million to the Tribe and requires defendants to shutdown the last Reid Gardner Plant by 2018. Four power stations had been running since the 60s to power the Las Vegas Valley, but were considered the dirtiest in the country and fined heavily by regulators for spewing coal ash dust. The last working plant is next to the Tribe’s reservation.
Turtle Talk 
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