The D.C. district court granted partial summary judgment in this case involving self-determination contracts with Indian tribes.
District Court for the District of Columbia
Jack Abramoff Sentencing Materials
Indianz reports that the sentencing hearing for Jack Abramoff is tomorrow. Here are the two pleadings submitted to the court involving sentencing. The government’s memo details Abramoff’s fraudulent dealings with Indian tribes.
Pro Football v. Harjo — Trademark Claim Against Redskins Dismissed
Again, laches is the culprit.
Butte County v. Hogen – Mechoopda Permissive Intervention
A federal magistrate allowed the Mechoopda Tribe to intervene in a case challenging their compact approval by the NIGC, over the objections of Butte County. Here is the opinion.
Indian Preference in Employment Case
In Indian Educators Association v. Kempthorne, the district court for the District of Columbia granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs on the question of whether the federal government is obliged to provide Indian preference in employment in agencies that administer Indian programs outside the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Indian Health Service.
Here are the materials:
Indian Education Association Motion for Summary Judgment
Oglala Sioux Tribe v. US Army Corps – Land Transfer in Missouri River Basin
The district court dismissed Oglala Sioux Tribe’s suit challenging the “transfer of lands and recreational areas and/or granting of perpetual leases for recreational areas in the Missouri River Basin to the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (“South Dakota”), the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe under Title VI of the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 (“WRDA”), Pub. L. No. 106-53, 113 Stat. 269 (1999), as amended by Pub. L. No. 106-541, 114 Stat. 2572 (2000).” Slip op. at 2.
Here are the materials:
[other materials unavailable]
Self-Determination Act Funding Case — Aleutian Pribilof Islands Assn v. Kempthorne (D. D.C.)
This opinion vacates the Secretary of Interior’s decision to discontinue self-determination act funding the Aleutian Probilof Islands Association, a group of 13 member tribes, in favor of The Aleut Corporation, starting in 2006. Here are the materials:
APIA Motion for Summary Judgment
Florida Seminole Compact — Fla. AG Request for Injunction on DOI Approval of Compact
Yesterday, the federal court in DC denied a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the Florida AG Bill McCollum that would have prevented the Secretary of Interior from publishing the approval of the Class III gaming compact between the Florida Seminoles and the State of Florida.
Here are the materials:
Assiniboine & Sioux et al. v. Kempthorne Materials
Thirty-seven individual cases raising the same claims as in the Cobell litigation had been spun off from that massive case in the past few years. The United States moved to remand and stay these cases to the Department of Interior. Yesterday, Judge Robertson declined that motion.
Here are the relevant materials:
Turtle Talk 