Navajo Nation

Navajo Gaming Loan Threatened

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

We blogged previously about the lawsuit filed in Navajo tribal court over the proposed Navajo gaming loan. It turns out the lawsuit was successful in apparently causing the lender to change the terms of the deal (H/T Indianz). This is an interesting development and probably not a welcome one from the perspective of gaming tribes. If tribal court lawsuits challenging the terms of a gaming-related loan, or in this case the authority of the Navajo legislature to approve the loan, are successful in any area, my guess is the price for loans will go up everywhere.

Update: No suit has been filed in the Navajo Nation courts.  The 30 day waiting period required by the Navajo Sovereign Immunity Act (the title doesn’t use “Nation”) just expired and we were preparing to file suit.  There has been no public announcement, but there are rumors to the effect that the notice of suit stopped the loan.  They are now looking at other sources of funding for the casino, such as a trust fund set aside for acquiring land.

From Indianz:

Continue reading →

Navajo Nation v. United States (CAFed) — Trust Violation Remand

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

After the Supreme Court wiped out the $600 million judgment favoring the Navajo Nation against the United States in 2003, the Court remanded the case to allow the Nation to pursue the same judgment on different legal theories. So far, the Nation has been successful in the Federal Circuit, although the United States has petitioned the Federal Circuit for en banc review.

Here are the materials:

Continue reading →

News Article on Uranium Mining Impact at Navajo

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Telluride Watch:

Uranium Cuts a Tragic Path Through the Navajo Nation

Part I of a Series

By Amy Levek
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 5:26 PM MST

Three coyotes run through the sagebrush, stopping briefly to check us out. Head of the Uranium Education Project at Diné College Perry Charley and I are out in the windswept canyons of the Navajo Reservation, looking at the legacy of uranium mining and its sad and tragic intertwining with Navajo lives and livelihood.

Continue reading →

EEOC v. Peabody Coal & Navajo Nation — CA9 Materials

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

This long-running case involves the Navajo tribal preference statute. The district court dismissed the claim under Rule 19 (one of my faves!). Here are the Ninth Circuit materials:

DCT Order

Continue reading →

Sobering Graphic on the Spread of Uranium Pollution at Navajo

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the LA Times.

Navajo Nation President Shirley: “Native America and the Rule of Law”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr.’s, speech published in law review to commemorate founding of Jamestown, Virginia, 400 years ago

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.- Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., has been published in the Richmond Law Review’s Jamestown Commemorative issue.

Continue reading →

Suit in Navajo Tribal Courts Over Gaming

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the Las Cruces Sun-News (h/t Indianz):

 

Group to legally challenge Navajo Nation’s plan for first casino

The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE – Months before the Navajo Nation’s first casino is scheduled to open, a group is planning to sue over the validity of legislation that provides for financing the development of that casino and others.

Continue reading →

United States v. Mitchell — Death Penalty Case at Navajo

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Recently, the Ninth Circuit decided a federal death penalty case arising out the Navajo Nation. The Court rejected an argument that the Navajo Nation hadn’t opted into the death penalty in accordance with the Major Crimes Act on the theory that the federal statute at issue was a different one. In short, the Court ignored tribal sovereignty.

Continue reading →

Snowbowl En Banc Materials

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Indianz.com published the rehearing petitions from the US and the Arizona Snowbowl operators and the oppositions from the Hualapai, Navajo, and Hopi tribes all in one document, here.

Our previous post on this case, with all the materials from the earlier 9th Circuit proceedings (again courtesy of Indianz) is here.

Navajo Tribal Member Case in Supreme Court — Begay v. United States

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Briefs and other materials are below the fold.

From SCOTUSWiki:

[Earlier this year], the Court granted certiorari in two cases that will examine the range of predicate convictions that qualify a person for elevated sentences under the Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984 (the “ACCA”). The ACCA imposes a minimum 15 year sentence, and authorizes a term of life imprisonment, for a person convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm if that person has been previously convicted on three separate occasions for a “violent felony” or “serious drug offense.” The act defines “violent felony” to include any adult crime punishable by at least one year’s imprisonment that “is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” This last clause is referred to as the “otherwise” or “residual” clause. The ACCA also defines “serious drug offense” to include offenses under state law “involving manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute, a controlled substance . . . for which a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more is prescribed by law.”

Continue reading →