Here: Kaltag press release
NARF Press Release on the Supreme Court’s Denial of Cert in the Kaltag Tribal Council Case
Here: Kaltag press release
Hogan v. Kaltag Tribal Council
SCOTUSBlog Petitions to Watch for the “Long Conference” and Commentary
Three petitions have made the famed SCOTUSblog list of petitions to watch for the long conference today. We wonder whether virtually every Indian law related case makes the list these days, but that’s not really true.
Interesting cases that are on the docket but don’t make the list are Fort Peck v. HUD (10-195), Maybee v. Idaho (09-1471), Metlakatla v. Sebelius (09-1466), and Schaghticoke v. Salazar (09-1433). Note that all four of these petitions were filed by tribal interests. As we say every time, note the general trends in Indian law cases in the Supreme Court petition stage: (1) the United States’ petitions are granted about 2/3 of the time, or more; (2) petitions by states and their subdivisions are granted about 1/3 of the time; (3) petitions by tribes are almost never granted. And even the OSG’s influence wanes when supporting tribal interests.
Other cases that rightfully do not belong on this list include Hoffman v. Sandia Pueblo (10-4) for reasons we’ve already discussed.
Here is the link, and the SCOTUSblog coverage of each petition:
Title: Gould v. Cayuga Indian Nation
Docket: 10-206
Issue(s): 1) Whether, on a matter that it believed the Supreme Court had not yet addressed, the New York Court of Appeals properly interpreted federal law in holding that two parcels of land purchased by a successor to the historic Cayuga Indian Nation in 2003 and 2005 were exempt from New York’s cigarette sales and excise taxes after two hundred years of non-Indian ownership and governance; and 2) whether the New York Court of Appeals properly held both that (i) the Cayuga Indian Nation possessed a federal reservation pursuant to the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, notwithstanding that the Nation had ceded all of its land to New York State in 1789; and (ii) the United States did not subsequently disestablish any purported federal reservation.
Certiorari-Stage Documents
OSG Brief in Hogan v. Kaltag Tribal Council — OSG Supports Tribe
Huge brief, here: Hogan 09-960 (SG Response).
Earlier materials here.
Supreme Court Asks Solicitor General for Views on Kaltag ICWA Case
Interesting development, and better than a grant, I suppose, but the Supreme Court has asked the Office of Solicitor General to express the federal government’s views in the Hogan v. Kaltag Tribal Council case — also known as a CVSG. Order list here.
It is extremely likely that the Court will decide whether or not to take the case based on the brief filed by the OSG.
Other materials here.
Hogan v. Kaltag Tribal Council — A Petition to Watch — Corrected
From SCOTUSBlog:
Title: Hogan v. Kaltag Tribal Council
Docket: 09-960
Issue: Whether the hundreds of Indian tribes throughout the State of Alaska have authority to initiate and adjudicate child custody proceedings involving a [member] and then to compel the State to give full faith and credit to the decrees entered in those proceedings.
- Opinion below (Unpublished, 9th Circuit)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief in opposition
- Petitioners’ reply
- Amicus brief of Edward Parks and Donielle Taylor
Hogan v. Kaltag Cert Petition News
From Indianz. The comments of Sen. Bill Wielechowsk read like a cert pool memo (and agreeably so):
“The facts in Kaltag are this,” said Sen. Bill Wielechowski (D), The Anchorage Daily News reported. “You had a Mom who was convicted of murder and was a drinker. You had a Dad who wanted nothing to do with the child. You had the Kaltag tribe that took custody of the child, adopted her to residents who lived in Huslia. All participants consented to the tribal court doing this, all were Native, no one raised any concerns about the due process provided by the tribal court. The child is 10 years old, happy and healthy with the family, and the state comes in and wants to stop this.”
Turtle Talk 