This is big news. Sitting on the Tenth Circuit, Judge McConnell wrote important opinions in many Indian law cases. He wrote the opinion in United States v. Friday, rejecting an Indian’s challenge to federal bald eagle statutes. His concurring opinion in Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation v. Wagnon, 402 F.3d 1015 (10th Cir. 2005), became the basis for holding that Kansas’s refusal to recognize motor vehicle licenses issued by the PBPN after the Supreme Court vacated the opinion in late 2005. 476 F.3d 818 (10th Cir. 2007). And in United States v. Arrieta, 436 F.3d 1246 (10th Cir. 2006), he wrote the majority opinion in a criminal jurisdiction case holding that a county-maintained road within the Pojoaque Pueblo was still Indian Country.
Incidentally, I would nominate Alex Skibine for the open seat…. 🙂
From Faculty Lounge:
From a press release from the Tenth Circuit today, comes this important news:
Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell, 53, of Salt Lake City, Utah, has submitted his resignation from the bench, effective August 31, 2009. At that time, he will accept a position as Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School in Palo Alto, California.
Many congratulations to Stanford University on recruiting Judge McConnell. And to Judge McConnell on returning to the academy, where he can pursue the topics that interest him most.
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Turtle Talk 