Friday Job Announcements

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.

Spokane Tribe

Conflict Public Defender, Wellpinit, WA. Responsible for representing defendants in criminal prosecutions in the Spokane Tribal Court. This position is open continuous. Applications can be downloaded at http://www.spokanetribe.com/jobs

Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP

2018 Summer Clerkships and Fellowships. A boutique law firm in San Francisco, CA specializing in government, land use, renewable energy, and environmental law. We have a growing federal Indian law practice, focusing on cultural resource protection, government-to-government consultation, tribal jurisdiction, land use, and renewable energy. Summer clerkships are open to students who will have completed their 2L year. The three-year fellowship is open to recent law school graduates. Applications accepted on a rolling basis, with a firm deadline of Labor Day for both programs.

Tulalip Tribes

Attorney. Closes July 28, 2017.

Hualapai Tribe

Public Defender. Closes August 14, 2017.

Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

Tribal Child Support Unit Attorney, Juneau, AK. This position’s duties and responsibilities include representing the Tlingit and Haida Tribal Child Support Unit (TCSU) in Tribal and State courts, drafting legal documents for child support and paternity cases, providing legal guidance to the TCSU agency, researching legal issues, interpreting statutes, rules and regulations relevant to child support and paternity. Salary range $68,872 – $87,825 per year.  Position open until 4 pm, August 18, 2017.  Tlingit & Haida accepts electronic applications only. For questions contact Human Resources:  humanresources@ccthita-nsn.gov or Telephone 907-463-7707 or 463-7106.

Mescalero Apache Tribe

Chief Judge. This position is open until filled.

Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians

Court Clerk, Temecula, CA.

Previous Friday Jobs Announcement: 7/14/2017

Friday Job Announcements

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.

National Indian Gaming Commission

Financial Analyst, Washington D.C.  Closes 10/13/2016.

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe

Public Defender, Tribal Court.  Open until filled.

Gila River Indian Community

Supervising Protective Services Attorney, Office of General Counsel (originally posted 9/16/2016). New closing date 10/18/2016.

Protective Services Attorney, Office of General Counsel (originally posted 9/16/2016). Now two positions available with new closing date of 10/18/2016.

Hualapai Tribe

Judge, Wellness Court. Open until filled.

Clerk Coordinator, Wellness Court. Open until filled.

Probation Officer, Wellness Court. Open until filled.

Supreme Court Denies Grand Canyon Skywalk Development Cert Petition

Here is today’s order list.

Cert petition was here.

Reply Brief for Petitioner in Grand Canyon Skywalk Development

Here.

Previous briefs here. Previous coverage here.

Grand Canyon Resort Corp. Cert Opposition in Skywalk Case

Here:

Grand Canyon Resort Cert Opp

Petition here.

Grand Canyon Skywalk Development Cert Petition

Here is the cert petition in the case now captioned Grand Canyon Skywalk Development LLC v. Grand Canyon Resort Development Corporation:

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari

Questions presented:

1. Does Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981) apply on tribal land, as this Court suggested in Nevada v. Hicks, 533 U.S. 353, 358 (2001), or does this Court acquiesce in the Ninth Circuit’s contrary decision in Water Wheel Camp Recreation Area v. LaRance, 642 F.3d 802 (9th Cir. 2011)?

2. Does a non-tribal member consent to tribal jurisdiction under Montana even when that “consent” comes in the form of a contract with a tribal corporation which expressly provides that disputes will be resolved through binding arbitration, not in tribal court, and where the tribal enterprise has expressly waived its sovereign immunity to permit arbitration?

3. Are intangible contract rights of a Nevada corporation located on federal land held in trust for the Tribe and thus subject to the Tribe’s eminent domain powers because they relate to activities on tribal land?

4. Does the bad-faith exception to National Farmers exhaustion require a showing that the tribal court acted in bad faith, or is it sufficient to demonstrate that the Tribe’s governing council (Tribal Council) did so and that the Tribe’s judiciary lacked judicial independence?

Lower court materials here.

Grand Canyon Skywalk Development Files Petition for En Banc Review of Tribal Court Jurisdiction Panel Decision

Here:

Petition for Rehearing En Banc

Panel materials are here.

Ninth Circuit Rules against Grand Canyon Skywalk Challenge to Hualapai Tribal Court Jurisdiction

Here.

From the court’s syllabus:

Affirming the district court’s judgment in an action concerning a dispute over a revenue-sharing contract between a Nevada corporation and a tribally chartered corporation of the Hualapai Indian Tribe for the building and operation of the Grand Canyon Skywalk, the panel held that the Nevada corporation must exhaust tribal court remedies before proceeding in federal court on its claims challenging the Tribe’s authority to condemn its intangible property rights in the contract.

The panel concluded that the bad faith and futility exceptions to the exhaustion requirement did not apply. It held that where a tribal court has asserted jurisdiction and is entertaining a suit, the tribal court must have acted in bad faith for exhaustion to be excused; bad faith by a litigant instituting the tribal court action will not suffice. The panel held that the submitted evidence did not establish that the tribal court operated in bad faith or was controlled by the tribal council in its decision making. The panel also affirmed the district court’s conclusion that the evidence did not meet the narrow futility exception, which applies where exhaustion would be futile because of the lack of adequate opportunity to challenge the tribal court’s jurisdiction.

The panel held inapplicable the exhaustion exception for cases in which the tribal court plainly lacks jurisdiction. The panel stated that the main rule of Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981), that generally Indian tribes lack civil authority over the conduct of nonmembers on non-Indian land within a reservation, was unlikely to apply to the facts of this case. The panel held that the district court correctly relied upon Water Wheel Camp Recreation Area, Inc. v. LaRance, 642 F.3d 802 (9th Cir. 2011), which recognizes that a tribe’s inherent authority over tribal land may provide for regulatory authority over non-Indians on that land without the need to consider Montana. Moreover, even if the tribal court were to apply Montana’s main rule, the Nevada corporation’s consensual relationship with the tribal corporation, or the financial implications of their agreement, likely would place the case squarely within one of Montana’s exceptions and allow for tribal jurisdiction.

Briefs are here.

Hualapai Tribal Court Issues Stay Order in Tribal Court Suit against Grand Canyon Skywalk

Here:

Hualapai Tribal Court Stay Order