Here is the opinion:
Lower court supplemental briefs here.
Briefs are here.
Lower court materials here.
Muscogee (Creek) Nation
SCOTUS Denies Cert in Two Indian Law Cases
Here is today’s order list.
The Court denied cert in Dupris v. Procter and Hicks v. Hudson Insurance.
Hicks v. Hudson Ins. Co. Cert. Petition
Here is the petition:
Question presented:
Whether an insurance company doing business with a federally recognized American Indian Tribe is entitled to sovereign immunity for the acts and omission it takes in furtherance of the business of insurance.
Tenth Circuit Finds Federal Question in Thlopthlocco Tribal Town v. Stidham, Orders Tribal Court Exhaustion
Here is the opinion in Thlopthlocco Tribal Town v. Stidham. An excerpt:
The Thlopthlocco Tribal Town is a federally recognized Indian tribe in Oklahoma. An election dispute arose about which individuals were properly elected or appointed to govern the Thlopthlocco people. Seeking to resolve that dispute, the Tribal Town filed suit in the tribal court of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and, accordingly, voluntarily submitted to that court’s jurisdiction.
The Tribal Town subsequently concluded it did not want to maintain its suit in tribal court and dismissed its claims. But the defendant in that suit had, by that time, filed cross-claims. Arguing that the Tribal Town’s sovereign immunity waiver did not cover proceedings on the cross-claims, the Tribal Town attempted to escape Muscogee court jurisdiction, but, in various decisions, several judges and justices of the Muscogee courts held that they may exercise jurisdiction over the Tribal Town without its consent.
The Tribal Town then filed a federal action in the Northern District of Oklahoma against those Muscogee judicial officers, seeking to enjoin the Muscogee courts’ exercise of jurisdiction. The district court dismissed the case, finding that the federal courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction, the defendants were entitled to sovereign immunity, the Tribal Town had failed to join indispensable parties, and the Tribal Town had failed to exhaust its remedies in tribal court. We conclude, however, that the Tribal Town has presented a federal question and that the other claims do not require dismissal. But we agree the Tribal Town should exhaust its remedies in tribal court while its federal court action is abated.
Here are the briefs:
Lower court materials here.
Tenth Circuit Supplemental Briefs in Oklahoma v. Hobia re: Bay Mills Decision
Here:
Oklahoma Supplemental Brief re Bay Mills
Tribal Supplemental Brief re Bay Mills
The Tenth Circuit previously abated this matter pending the outcome in Michigan v. Bay Mills.
Important New Scholarship on Muscogee Tribal Jurisprudence
Sarah Deer and Cecelia Knapp have published “Muscogee Constitutional Jurisprudence: Vhakv Em Pvtakv (The Carpet Under The Law)” in the Tulsa Law Review. The paper is also available on SSRN.
The abstract:
In 1974, a group of Mvskoke citizens from Oklahoma sued the federal government in federal court. Hanging in the balance was the future of Mvskoke self-determination. The plaintiffs insisted that their 1867 Constitution remained in full effect, and that they still governed themselves pursuant to it. The United States argued that the constitution had been nullified by federal law passed in the early 1900s.
To find in favor of the plaintiffs, the court would have to rule that the United States had been ignoring the most basic civil rights of Mvskoke citizens and flouting the law for over seventy years. It would also have to find that a tribal government had been operating legitimately in the shadows—that the Mvskoke people had continued to operate under their constitution for most of the twentieth century despite official federal antagonism. It was definitely a long shot, but they won.
This article explores factors that have helped the Mvskoke people create, nurture, and sustain a constitutional government under hostile circumstances for centuries. We focus on the history and structure of the constitutional government of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. We consider several aspects of Creek conceptions of government structure and balance, which are also evidenced in the constitutional jurisprudence of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court. At first glance, the contemporary Mvskoke government today bears little resemblance to the ancient etvlwv town-based system of governance, but a more penetrating analysis reveals common threads of political theory and cosmogony, or world view, that have continued unabated.
Highly recommended!
Tenth Circuit Abates Oklahoma v. Hobia until Supreme Court Decides Michigan v. Bay Mills — Updated
Tribal Court Brief in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court Jurisdiction Appeal
Here is the appellee brief in Thlopthlocco Tribal Town v. Stidham:
16-Answer brief of Defendant-Appellees
Opening brief here.
Lower court materials here.
Turtle Talk 
You must be logged in to post a comment.