Navajo Nation

NYTs Article on Indian Country Gangs

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

PINE RIDGE, S.D. — Richard Wilson has been a pallbearer for at least five of his “homeboys” in the North Side Tre Tre Gangster Crips, a Sioux imitation of a notorious Denver gang.

One 15-year-old member was mauled by rivals. A 17-year-old shot himself; another, on a cocaine binge and firing wildly, was shot by the police. One died in a drunken car wreck, and another, a founder of the gang named Gaylord, was stabbed to death at 27.

“We all got drunk after Gaylord’s burial, and I started rapping,” said Mr. Wilson, who, at 24, is practically a gang elder. “But I teared up and couldn’t finish.”

Mr. Wilson is one of 5,000 young men from the Oglala Sioux tribe involved with at least 39 gangs on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The gangs are being blamed for an increase in vandalism, theft, violence and fear that is altering the texture of life here and in other parts of American Indian territory.

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Tenth Circuit Seeks to Conclude San Juan County Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the latest and perhaps last in Dickson v. San Juan County from the Tenth Circuit. Materials are here.

An excerpt:

Plaintiffs-Appellants Dickson, Riggs and Singer (hereafter “Appellants”) appeal from the district court’s order denying their motion for relief from this court’s final judgment. The district court ruled that the law-of-the-case doctrine prohibited it from considering Appellants’ new legal theories that a Navajo Nation tribal court had subject-matter jurisdiction over defendants, notwithstanding this court’s decision to the contrary. The court’s order also granted defendants’ motion to enjoin Appellants from initiating any further proceedings against them. We affirm.

Plaintiffs-Appellants Dickson, Riggs and Singer (hereafter “Appellants”)appeal from the district court’s order denying their motion for relief from thiscourt’s final judgment. The district court ruled that the law-of-the-case doctrineprohibited it from considering Appellants’ new legal theories that a NavajoNation tribal court had subject-matter jurisdiction over defendants,notwithstanding this court’s decision to the contrary. The court’s order alsogranted defendants’ motion to enjoin Appellants from initiating any furtherproceedings against them. We affirm.

Navajo DPS Employee Claims for Wages under 638 Contract Dismissed

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the opinion in Boye v. United States (Fed. Cl.) — Boye v United States

An excerpt:

In the above-captioned action, plaintiffs allege that they have not been paid the wages and benefits to which they are entitled pursuant to various self-determination contracts executed by their employer, the Navajo Nation, and the United States Department of the Interior (“Department of the Interior”). They bring their claim as purported third-party beneficiaries. Defendant has moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted pursuant to Rule 12 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). As explained in more detail below, the court grants defendant’s motion.

LA Times on the Bennett Freeze at Navajo/Hopi

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

From the LA Times:

Reporting from Cameron, Ariz. – This is the land where Larry Gordy was destined to live, until it was made unlivable.

The Navajo believe that a person will always be tied to the place where his or her umbilical cord is buried. When Gordy was born in 1968, his father put his in this rust-colored dirt. It was here on the family’s ranch on the edge of the Painted Desert that his father dreamed of one day building homes for his children, and of tilling a field where watermelon and corn could grow.

But the Gordys were forced to put their dreams on hold. In 1966, the commissioner of Indian Affairs, Robert Bennett, halted development on 1.6 million acres of tribal land in northeastern Arizona that was claimed by both the Navajo nation and the Hopi tribe. Bennett imposed the ban to stop either tribe from taking advantage of the other while they negotiated ownership.

The ban became known as the Bennett Freeze. It meant the Gordys and the 8,000 or so other Navajos living on the land couldn’t erect homes, open businesses or even repair their roofs. No roads or schools were built, no electric, gas or water lines were permitted.

The land dispute dragged on for 40 years, paralyzing residents in a state of poverty rarely seen in America. Because few Hopis lived on the disputed territory, the ban affected mostly Navajos like the Gordys, who deserted their ranch after it fell into disrepair.

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President Joe Shirley Put On Administrative Leave

Kate Fort

From The Kayenta Today blog:

Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. put on administrative leave to allow further investigations into OnSat, BCDS

October 26th, 2009

Administrative leave will allow appropriate law enforcement authorities access to further information within the Office of the President/Vice President

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — By a vote of 48-22, the Navajo Nation Council put President Joe Shirley Jr. on administrative leave with pay during the pendency of investigations and possible prosecution of ethical, civil and criminal charges by the Navajo Nation through a special prosecutor. The Council’s actions today, Oct. 26, are the result of three investigations that allege wrongdoing by the president and key members of his staff within the Executive Branch of the Navajo Nation.
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NPR on Tribal Economic Development

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From Tom Schlosser:

This week the National Public Radio program “All Things Considered” airs a two-episode series on Tribal economic development in the Southwest. The programs highlight the diverse issues, challenges, and opportunities for Tribes in different locations and which possess different levels of resources. The program focuses on two particular Native economic development models: The Navajo Nation and The Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community.

Interviews include:

Joe Shirley, Navajo Nation President

Martin Harvier, Vice President of the Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community

Quannah Dallas, Salt River Pima’s Economic Development Manager

Brett Isaac, Shonto Community Development Corporation

Joseph Kalt, Director of Harvard University’s American Indian Economic Development Project

Greg Guedel, Chair of Foster Pepper PLLC’s Native American Legal Services Group

Part I of the program, focusing on the Navajo Nation, can be downloaded HERE.

Part II of the program, focusing on the Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community, can be downloaded H

News Article about Tohatchi Elementary School

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From Yahoo:

TOHATCHI, N.M. – Fifth grader Darius Yazzie’s after-school chores include hauling water for horses and feeding chickens, while his classmate, Shanika Begay, rides a bus 15 miles each way through the rolling hills of this impoverished corner of the Navajo Nation.

Some students travel a much greater distance, as far as 45 miles on dirt roads that become impassable in bad weather. Some of their homes lack electricity and running water. About 83 percent of Shanika’s and Darius’ classmates are poor, according to state data, with about 80 percent designated as English language learners.
While Tohatchi Elementary School is a new building this year, with walls decorated with Navajo language posters and student artwork, the demographics of poverty and language have added up in the past to some of the worst test scores in New Mexico.

But about four years ago, Shanika, Darius and other students noticed a change.

A bespectacled, mustachioed man with a buoyant character was there to greet them each morning. George Bickert, who as a first-year principal had to get a special waiver to take the job, immediately learned his students’ names. He gave them smiles, hugs and high fives. He led early morning basketball games, which Darius loved.

Like those games, Bickert turned academics into a challenge, one that he believed these students could win. And win they did.

Tohatchi boosted its math scores from 15 percent of the students being proficient in 2006 to nearly 78 percent this year. Reading scores rose from nearly 28 percent of the students being proficient to almost 71 percent this year, according to state data. Continue reading →

ICT: Indians v. Enviros at Hopi/Navajo

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. – The battle waged against a major coal company by Hopi and Navajo activists and against large environmental groups by tribal officials has, at least temporarily, intensified the conflict playing out in northern Arizona over the control, preservation and use of cultural and natural resources.

“I never thought I would see the day when being ‘Hopi’ meant being anti-environment, pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting pollution and global warming in favor of ‘the almighty dollar,’” Alph Secakuku said.

In addition to being Sipaulovi Village representative on the tribal council, he is president of Hopi Organizational Political Initiative, a grassroots group believed to be among those ousted from Hopi tribal land for being perceived allies of the Sierra Club and other large groups that have opposed Peabody Western Coal Company’s role in expanded strip mining.

On Sept. 28 the Hopi tribal council – its legitimacy challenged in political infighting – said the Sierra Club,National Resources Defense Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Grand Canyon Trust, and “on-reservation organizations sponsored by or affiliated with the groups, are no longer welcome on the reservation.” Continue reading →

Federal Court Upholds SORNA Under Indian Commerce Clause

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the opinion in U.S. v. Coho (D. N.M.), in which the court held that SORNA is constitutional as applied to Indians under both the interstate and Indian commerce clauses acting independently — Coho DCT Order

An excerpt:

Indian Commerce Clause. It is well-settled that Congress has exclusive and plenary authority to regulate matters involving Indians and Indian lands pursuant to the Indian Commerce Clause. See, e.g., Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico, 490 U.S. 163, 192, 109 S.Ct. 1698, 104 L.Ed.2d 209 (1989) (“[T]he central function of the Indian Commerce Clause is to provide Congress with plenary power to legislate in the field of Indian affairs.”); United States v. Lara, 541 U.S. 193, 200, 124 S.Ct. 1628, 158 L.Ed.2d 420 (2004) (“[T]he Constitution grants Congress broad general powers to legislate in respect to Indian tribes, powers that we have consistently described as ‘plenary and exclusive.’ ”). This plenary authority permits Congress to enact even criminal laws regulating the conduct of Indians in Indian territory. United States v. Kagama, 18 U.S. 375, 383-84 (1886). Congress has exercised its exclusive jurisdiction in this area by enacting the Indian Major Crimes Act. That Act stipulates that, with respect to offenses committed in Indian Country, FN4 “any Indian who commits against the person or property of another Indian … a felony under Chapter 109A FN5 … shall be subject to the same laws and penalties as to all other persons committing any of the above offenses, within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States.” 18 U.S.C. § 1153(a). Coho, an Indian, is charged with aggravated sexual assault against Jane Doe, also an Indian, which occurred on the Navajo reservation in Indian Country. The charge against Coho falls squarely within the terms of 18 U.S.C. § 1153(a), and therefore the United States has exclusive jurisdiction over the underlying crime.

The same power that Congress exercised to enact the Indian Major Crimes Act also allows Congress to enact the civil commitment statute of § 4248 at least as applied to Indians who commit crimes in Indian Country. Congress has a protectorate or trust relationship with Indian tribes and possesses broad power to legislate in the tribes’ best interest. The civil commitment statute clearly lies within Congress’ plenary authority to regulate matters involving Indians and Indian land. While the Fourth Circuit recently struck down the civil commitment provisions of § 4248 as unconstitutional when applied to non-Indian defendants, United States v. Comstock, 551 F.3d 274 (4th Cir.2009), it noted that the law may remain constitutional with respect to “persons within exclusive federal jurisdiction (e.g. residents of the District of Columbia and members of the military).” Id. at 278 n. 4. By virtue of the Indian Commerce Clause, Indians belong in the category of persons over which Congress exercises exclusive jurisdiction. For these reasons, I hold that 18 U.S.C. § 4248 is constitutional under the Indian Commerce Clause with respect to this defendant.

Arizona Bar Journal Article on DV in Tribal Courts

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Sylvia Struss, a DNA attorney, published “DV Cases in Tribal Court” in the October 2009 issue of Arizona Attorney.

Article link.