cert petition

Harvest Institute Freedmen Cert Petition (Challenge to Cobell Settlement)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the petition in Harvest Freedmen Institute v. United States:

Harvest Inst. Freedmen Cert Petition

Lower court materials here.

Guardian ad Litem Brief in Support of Cert Petition in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

GAL Brief in Support of Petition

A direct challenge to the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, filed by Paul Clement. No circuit split, no split of authority in the state courts, arguments never raised below — an emotional plea to an unemotional Court.

Michigan Files Cert Petition in Dispute over BMIC’s Vanderbilt Casino

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the petition:

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari MI v BMIC

Better pdf here: Michigan v Bay Mills Cert Petition

Questions Presented:

1. Whether a federal court has jurisdiction to enjoin activity that violates IGRA but takes place outside of Indian lands.

2. Whether tribal sovereign immunity bars a state from suing in federal court to enjoin a tribe from violating IGRA outside Indian lands.

Sixth Circuit materials here.

My earlier views on why this petition isn’t going anywhere are here. I would add now that since Bay Mills, as I understand it, hasn’t re-opened the casino, and since the State filed an amended complaint way back when, there doesn’t seem to be much pressure to grant this particular petition. Also, if this is really an IGRA fight over an allegedly illegal casino, it’s really the federal government’s fight. In fact, NIGC already referred the matter to the federal prosecutors … a while back. Michigan is trumping up an alleged compact violation that might not even exist. There might be a compact violation, or not, but the State in its petition doesn’t even point to which provision in the compact BMIC is violating (maybe they did, but I didn’t see it).

Opposition Briefs in Good Bear v. Cobell Cert Petition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here:

Federal Cert Opp in Goodbear

Cobell Cert Opp in Goodbear

Supreme Court Grants Cert in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (This is really an immigration/election rights case…)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is today’s order list.

Briefs are on SCOTUSblog here.

Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl Cert Petition (South Carolina ICWA Case)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here (we’ll post a pdf of the original when we get it):

Adoptive Couple v Baby Girl Cert Petition

No 12-__ Adoptive Couple v Baby Girl REDACTED

Questions presented:

(1) Whether a non-custodial parent can invoke ICWA to block an adoption voluntarily and lawfully initiated by a non-Indian parent under state law.
(2) Whether ICWA defines “parent” in 25 U.S.C. § 1903(9) to include an unwed biological father who has not complied with state law rules to attain legal status as a parent.
Lower court decision here.

Cobell Class Cert Opposition Brief (Craven Petition)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here:

Cobell Cert Opp Brief

Furry v. Miccosukee Cert Petition: State Dram Shop Actions and Immunity

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here:

Furry Cert Petition

Questions presented:

1. Does Justice Brandeis’ opinion in Turner v. United States, 248 U.S. 354 (1919) support the concept of tribal sovereign immunity or should that accidental doctrine, questioned in Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., 523 U.S. 751 (1998), be revised and discarded, at least in the context of tribal alcoholic beverage commercial activities?
2. Do Title 18 U.S.C. § 1161 and Rice v. Rehner, 463 U.S. 713 (1983), exclude tribal alcoholic beverage endeavors from sovereign immunity protection?
3. Does tribal sovereign immunity preclude a suit against an Indian Tribe which has obtained a state liquor license and has operated an alcoholic beverage facility pursuant to that liquor license and in the process has violated state law subjecting a license holder to liability?
Lower court materials here.

Goodbear v. Cobell Cert Petition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

Goodbear v Cobell Cert Petition

Questions presented:

I. Whether a settlement class action can be approved over timely objections interposed by class members when the single point of requisite commonality found by the D.C. Circuit is by definition not a common issue of law or fact applicable to all members of the class.

II. Whether a mandatory settlement class action can be approved over timely objections by a class member that she should be permitted to opt out of the settlement that provides for only a monetary payment?

Contour Spa v. Seminole Tribe Cert Petition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here:

Contour Spa Cert Petition

Questions Presented:

1. Does Lapides v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, 535 U.S. 613 (2003), provide a basis for finding a waiver of tribal sovereign immunity where an Indian Tribe has expressly waived sovereign immunity, is sued in state court, removes to federal court, and then asserts sovereign immunity based on the Tribe’s concealment of the fact that the Tribe did not comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s lease approval requests?
2. Does Justice Brandeis’ opinion in Turner v. United States, 248 U.S. 354 (1919). support the concept of tribal sovereign immunity or should that accidental doctrine, questioned in Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., 523 U.S. 751 (1998), be revisited and discarded.
3. Does the Indian Civil Rights Act, Title 25 U.S.C. § 1302(a)(5) and (a)(8) create an implicit cause of action permitting the Tribe to be sued for the taking of property without due process of law?
Lower court materials here.