Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Friday Job Announcements

Sarah M Donnelly1 Comment

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.

Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

ICWA Attorney, Juneau, AK. The attorney will provide civil legal representation to CCTHITA on child welfare cases and issues. The incumbent’s primary responsibility is to advise the Tribal Family & Youth Services (TFYS) department staff regarding the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and other State and Federal legislation that impact Tribal families.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Executive Director, Economic Development Corporation. Responsible for carrying out the day-to-day directives of CREDCO, the Board of Directors, and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Closes Monday, June 12, 2017.

Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council

Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director, Lac du Flambeau, WI. As principal executive officer of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC) organization, this position directs and coordinates the operations of GLITC to ensure established goals and objectives are met, regulatory requirements are complied with, resources are utilized efficiently and effectively, and the needs of the tribal communities are being met. Closes Monday, June 19, 2017.

AmeriCorps

Medical-Legal Partnership Attorney Member, Monument Valley, UT. The AmeriCorps Member will provide direct legal assistance to low-income patients at Utah Navajo Health Systems.

Medical-Legal Partnership Attorney Member, Albuquerque, N.M. The AmeriCorps Member will provide direct legal assistance to low-income patients at First Nations Community HealthSource.

From last week:

(2) Limited Term Faculty, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University, Ontario, CA.

Associate Attorney, Frye Law Firm, Albuquerque, N.M.

Heather Dawn Thompson Awarded Bush Fellowship

Ann Tweedy1 Comment

Here’s the press release from Greenberg Traurig:

Greenberg Traurig’s Heather Dawn Thompson Awarded
Prestigious Bush Fellowship

DENVER – Apr. 3, 2017 – Heather Dawn Thompson, an attorney in the American Indian Law Practice of international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, was recently awarded a Bush Fellowship for her extraordinary leadership in Indian Country. The Fellowship provides an educational grant to pursue the training and experiences Fellows need to become more effective leaders in their community.

Thompson, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, will focus her Bush Fellowship on “self-sufficiency,” for Tribal governments. Thompson wants to better engage the private sector with the Great Plains Tribes in their efforts to build their strength and self-determination. She is experienced in Indian law and economic development nationwide; and, in result, has witnessed economic independence bring freedom to invest in language, culture, and service to tribal citizens. She also believes strong leadership requires the wisdom that the Lakota language and values provide. She will use her Bush Fellowship to pursue corporate and tribal finance, combining it with a focus on traditional Lakota values of leadership and self-sufficiency.

“We are honored to have someone with Heather’s knowledge of Indian country, Native American Law, and tribal economic development serving our clients and also always seeking to learn more to benefit tribes in the Great Plains and beyond,” said Jennifer H. Weddle, co-chair of the American Indian Law Practice. “Her exceptional background and leadership provides valuable perspective to our clients.”

Thompson was selected from nearly 650 applicants, from across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and the 23 Native nations that share the same geography. Fellows determine what they need to become a more effective leader and receive the fellowship grant to make it happen.

Thompson is from South Dakota, where she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Dakota’s Indian Country Section prior to joining Greenberg Traurig. She also previously served as the Director of Government Affairs for the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the nation’s oldest and largest inter-tribal organization. In addition, she is Past President of both the South Dakota Indian Country Bar Association and the National Native American Bar Association.

She focuses her practice at Greenberg Traurig on American Indian law, federal Indian policy and advocacy, tribal sovereignty, tribal economic development, and tribal nation building. Thompson works with individual tribes, tribal and Indian-owned businesses, intertribal associations, and businesses seeking to partner with tribal corporations. Thompson was published recently, writing an article on “Doing Business with Native American Tribal Corporations.”

DAPL Appeal Pleadings

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are the briefs in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. United States Army Corps of Engineers:

2017 03 15 Em Mtn for Injunction

2017 03 17 ACOE Resp in Opp

2017 03 17 CRST Reply

2017 03 17 DAPL Resp in Opp Exhibits

2017 03 17 DAPL Resp in Opp

2017 03 18 Order Denying Injunction

Federal Court Denies DAPL Injunction

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the order in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. United States Army Corps of Engineers (D.D.C.):

March 7 Order

Materials here.

Citing Religious Freedom Act, CRST Requests TRO Against DAPL

Sarah M Donnelly

Download(PDF): Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Requests Temporary Restraining Order to DAPL Based on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Sioux Tribes Request Precautionary Measures to Protect Against DAPL

Sarah M Donnelly

Download(PDF):

Filed on behalf of Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, and Yankton Sioux Tribes by the American Indian Law Clinic at Colorado Law, Earthjustice, and Fredericks, Peebles and Morgan LLP.

Measures requested:

  1. Deny the easement allowing construction of the pipeline under the Missouri River at
    Lake Oahe as soon as possible;
  2. Complete a full environmental impact statement in formal consultation with the Tribes;
  3. Establish clear rules requiring that indigenous peoples who may be affected by
    government decisions have the opportunity for full and meaningful prior informed
    consent within the meanings established in the UN Declaration on the Rights of
    Indigenous Peoples and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court and this
    Commission;
  4. Establish clear rules ensuring full environmental and social assessment of activities that may affect indigenous peoples, with the full participation of the affected indigenous peoples;
  5. Immediately take all actions necessary to guarantee the safety of those engaging in
    peaceful prayer and protest concerning DAPL, and to ensure the full enjoyment of their rights to expression and assembly;
  6. Any other action this Commission deems appropriate.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Intervenor Complaint in DAPL Suit

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the complaint in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. United States Army Corps of Engineers (D.D.C.):

37-crst-complaint

final-revised-treaty-complaint-press-release-2016-09-08

Noah Feldman on the Impact of Western Sky-Inspired Litigation on Tribal Sovereignty

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Noah Feldman has posted “Tribes Don’t Get a Pass on Federal Law” on Bloomberg. HT How Appealing.

Despite the title (oh those editors!), tribal sovereignty isn’t mentioned until the last two paragraphs:

[Judge] Wilkinson tried to duck the deepest question in the case: Would it be all right to take federal law out of the picture altogether if Indian law applied instead? In this case, in practice, the recourse to tribal law would’ve been empty. But what if the Cheyenne River Sioux did have a robust arbitration mechanism in place or rules to guide an arbitration?

Under the decision, that shouldn’t matter: The court held that any agreement that rejects the application of federal law can’t be enforced. At the margin, this decision may actually reduce Indian tribes’ sovereignty. Whether it will help protect consumers from predatory lenders will depend on how other courts cite it.

These are good points. They could be tempered with a couple minor quibbles, mostly that the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, as I understand it, had nothing to do with Western Sky’s dispute resolution strategies. Perhaps anything the court said about that’s tribes sovereignty has to be dicta, and my reading of the opinion didn’t see anything like that (unlike the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Jackson).

This will be good fodder for consideration at the ASU e-Commerce meeting later this week….

 

Fourth Circuit Rules against Western Sky et al.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Hayes v. Delbert Services Corp. (4th Cir.).

An excerpt:

We both respect and appreciate the support of Congress and the Supreme Court for an arbitration procedure that reduces the costs and delays of civil litigation. Our review of the record leads us to conclude, however, that the arbitration agreement in this case is unenforceable. The agreement purportedly fashions a system of alternative dispute resolution while simultaneously rendering that system all but impotent through a categorical rejection of the requirements of state and federal law. The FAA does not protect the sort of arbitration agreement that unambiguously forbids an arbitrator from even applying the applicable law. We therefore reverse the district court’s order compelling arbitration and remand for further proceedings.

Briefs here.

 

Fourth Circuit Rejects Challenge to Western Sky Arbitration Provision

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Parnell v. CashCall Inc.

Materials and briefs here.