cert petition – Page 30

Wasatch County v. Ute Indian Tribe Cert Petition

November 18, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

Question presented:

In Hagen v. Utah, 510 U.S. 399, 409 (1994), this Court granted certiorari “to resolve the direct conflict between” the Tenth Circuit and the Utah Supreme Court over whether Congress has diminished the lands of the Uintah Valley and Uncompaghre Indian Reservation. This Court adopted the state court’s holding that the lands have been diminished, such that those lands are not Indian Country.

The Tenth Circuit is not giving up, however. It has held that its prior precedent justifies expressly refusing to follow Hagen,except to the limited extent absolutely compelled with respect to the precise facts of this Court’s ruling. In this case, the Tenth Circuit went substantially further still and held that its earlier (admittedly erroneous) holding that the reservation has not been diminished binds even petitioner Wasatch County, which was not a party to any of the prior litigation. Despite this Court’s determination to resolve the conflict between the federal and state courts in Hagen, that conflict continues to persist.

The Question Presented is:

Did the court of appeals err in defying this Court’s decision in Hagen v. Utah and enjoining a proper state court prosecution of a tribal member on lands that this Court has held have been diminished by Congress?

Lower court materials here.

NCAI Amicus Brief in United States v. Bryant

November 13, 2015Sarah M Donnelly

Brief in Support of Petitioner here.

U.S. cert petition previously posted here.

Petition for Hearing in Torres v. Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

November 9, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Petition for Rehearing

Cert petition has already been denied, here.

Cert Stage Briefing Complete in Jensen v. EXC Inc.

November 3, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Jensen Cert Petition

EXC Cert Opp

Jensen Reply

Lower court materials here.

Alaska v. Organized Village of Kake Cert Petition (Roadless Rule)

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

Alaska Cert Petition

Question presented:

The question presented is: whether the Ninth Circuit’s decision contravenes the basic administrative law principle, established by this Court’s decisions, that an executive agency may change the policies of a previous administration based on the new administration’s different values and priorities, even though the relevant facts are unchanged.

Lower court materials here and here.

Cert Opposition Brief in Jensen v. EXC

October 12, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

EXC Cert Opp

Cert petition is here.

United States v. Bryant Cert Petition — Federal Habitual Offender Statute and Uncounseled Tribal Court Convictions

October 7, 2015October 7, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the petition:

Cert Petition

Question presented:

Section 117(a) of Title 18, United States Code, makes it a federal crime for any person to “commit[] a domestic assault within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or Indian country” if the person “has a final conviction on at least 2 separate prior occasions in Federal, State, or Indian tribal court proceedings for” enumerated domestic-violence offenses. 18 U.S.C. 117(a).

The question presented is whether reliance on valid uncounseled tribal-court misdemeanor convictions to prove Section 117(a)’s predicate-offense element violates the Constitution.

Lower court materials here (en banc) and here (panel).

SCOTUS Order from Long Conference

October 5, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here.

The Supreme Court denied cert in Oklahoma v. Hobia, Wisconsin v. Ho-Chunk, Sac and Fox Nation v. Borough of Jim Thorpe, and Torres v. Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.

The Court took no action on the Jensen v. EXC petition, perhaps because the Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians matter is pending and involves similar issues (tribal court jurisdiction over nonmembers).