The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are attempting to list a sacred site on the National Register of Historic Places in hopes of stopping plans to mine Chicago Peak. Stories are here and here.
Case material (unsuccessful efforts to stop the mining project) referenced in the articles:
Here is the opinion in Wilderness Society v. USFS.
And the tribal amicus brief: Tribal Amicus Brief
An excerpt:
Today we revisit our so-called “federal defendant” rule, which categorically prohibits private parties and state and local governments from intervening of right on the merits of claims brought under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq. Because the rule is at odds with the text of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) and the standards we apply in all other intervention of right cases, we abandon it here. When construing motions to intervene of right under Rule 24(a)(2), courts need no longer apply a categorical prohibition on intervention on the merits, or liability phase, of NEPA actions. To determine whether a putative intervenor demonstrates the “significantly protectable” interest necessary for intervention of right in a NEPA action, the operative inquiry should be, as in all cases, whether “the interest is protectable under some law,” and whether “there is a relationship between the legally protected interest and the claims at issue.” Sierra Club v. EPA, 995 F.2d 1478, 1484 (9th Cir. 1993). Since the district court applied the “federal defendant” rule to prohibit intervention of right on the merits in this NEPA case, we reverse and remand so that it may reconsider the putative intervenors’ motion to intervene.
Here are the materials in State v. James:
Interesting double jeopardy case, in that Montana law recognizes tribal court convictions for state double jeopardy purposes.
The case is Morigeau v. Gorman and here are the materials:
From Robert McDonald, CSKT Communications Director:
In September, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes launched a myth-busting Web site that sought to address long-held misconceptions about American Indians. To date, the Montana state office of Public Instruction has endorsed the site along with area newspapers. Local school districts have used it in the curriculum as a resource and recently history professors from the University of Indiana and Purdue University have been using the site.
I hope you will investigate this approach of animation and humor to address some thorny topics. I’ve also heard parents on the reservation say it’s a great resource for their children in school when they are confronted with a classmate who’s pumped up on ignorance from their household. The idea was that the more complicated conversations, like the tribal-federal relationship, cannot be fully understood unless these essential understandings are understood as sort of an Indian 101.
The site is:
click on the faces to start one of nine experiences.
The question here is whether the Montana Supreme Court would invoke the doctrine of equitable tolling to toll the state statute of limitations where the plaintiff had first filed her tort claim in CSKT tribal court, then filed in state court. The court said yes, reversing a trial court order dismissing the claim.
Judge Moran was a named party in Moran v. Council of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, 22 Indian L. Rep. 6149 (C.S. & K.T. Ct. App. 1995).
From KPAX:
Judge William Joseph Moran, Chief Justice of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Appellate Court and Chief Judge of the Tribal Court, died at his home Wednesday. He was 65 years old.
Turtle Talk 