American Indian religious freedom

Amicus Brief in American Indian Religious Freedom Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

We filed a short amicus brief in A.A. v. Needville Indep. Sch. District before the Fifth Circuit (Needville-Historian Amicus Brief) on behalf of Drs. Suzanne Cross and K. Tsianina Lomawaima.

The ACLU of Texas is lead counsel in this case, a challenge to a Texas public school’s decision to suspend a kindergarden student because he refused to cut his long hair. He is a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe. The family was successful before the district court, but the school district appealed.

Other materials:

Arocha DCT Order

Appellees Brief

2009.04.27 Appellants Brief

Indian Religious Freedom at Colfax Cemetery

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Sac Bee:

Little peace for Colfax Indian Cemetery

smagagnini@sacbee.com

Published Tuesday, May. 26, 2009

When a tree falls in the Colfax Indian Cemetery, who hears it?

Kathy Keck and her dogs, cats, goats and horses did when one of the cemetery’s giant Ponderosa pines crushed part of her fence one stormy February night in 2007.

So began a controversy that closed the cemetery where local chiefs are buried and raised an outcry from area Indians who claim their religious freedom is being violated.

Keck, whose family has lived in harmony with the cemetery and the Maidu, Miwok and Nisenan who have used it since the 1800s, sued in small claims court and won $3,000 from the Colfax Cemetery District.

Until Keck’s suit, both the district and the Colfax Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe believed the Indians owned the cemetery.

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