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Previous coverage here.
Ninth Circuit
Opening Ninth Circuit Briefs in Yakama-State of Washington Tax Dispute
Ninth Circuit Reverses BIA Decision Favoring Cahto Disenrollees
Here is the opinion in Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria v. Dutschke.
The court’s syllabus:
The panel reversed the district court’s judgment affirming the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs’ decision in favor of federal defendants in an action brought by the Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria, seeking to set aside the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ decision to direct the Tribe to place the names of certain disenrolled individuals back on its membership rolls.
The panel held that the Tribe’s governing documents did not provide for an appeal to the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Tribe’s disenrollment action.
Briefs are here.
Complete Cert Stage Briefing in Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp.
Miller v Wright Cert Opposition Brief
Here:
The petition is here. No chance for a grant. I wouldn’t have even filed an opposition….
Grand Canyon Skywalk Development Files Petition for En Banc Review of Tribal Court Jurisdiction Panel Decision
Ninth Circuit Affirms EPA Decision to Issue Permits for Offshore Drilling in Alaska
Here is the opinion in Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands v. EPA.
From the court’s syllabus:
The panel denied a petition for review, and upheld a decision of the Environmental Protection Agency granting two air permits authorizing exploratory drilling operations in the Arctic Ocean by a drillship and its associated fleet of support vessels.The panel upheld the EPA’s statutory and regulatory interpretations. Specifically, the panel held that the Clean Air Act is ambiguous as to the applicability of the best available control emissions to support vessels not attached to an Outer Continental Shelf source, and concluded under Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. NRDC, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), deference that the EPA’s construction of the statute was permissible and reasonable. The panel also held that the EPA’s grant of a 500 meter ambient air exemption was not plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the EPA’s regulations.
Related opinion from last December here.
Perhaps as Many as Three Ninth Circuit Indian Criminal Cases Uncertain as Feds Ponder En Banc Petition in U.S. v. Zepeda
Today, the Ninth Circuit withdrew an opinion affirming a conviction in United States v. Alvirez. The Alvirez materials are here. The Zepeda materials are here. The federal government has until April 18 to file an en banc petition. A third decision that may be implicated as well is United States v. PMB (materials here).
The issue in Zepeda is here:
The panel held that a Certificate of Enrollment in an Indian tribe, entered into evidence through the parties’ stipulation, is insufficient evidence for a rational juror to find beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant is an Indian for purposes of § 1153, where the government offers no evidence that the defendant’s bloodline is derived from a federally recognized tribe.
Miller v. Wright Cert Petition
Here:
Questions presented:
The questions presented in this case are:
1. Whether Indian tribal immunity from suit allows the Indian tribe, a price fixing competitor, to be immune from federal anti-trust laws?
2. Whether the officials of an Indian tribe, acting beyond their authority, can be protected by tribal immunity when prospective relief is sought?
Lower court materials here.
Ninth Circuit Reverses Another Conviction under Zepeda (Tribal CDIB Insufficient Evidence of Indian Status)
Here is yesterday’s unpublished order in United States v. PMB.
The Zepeda post is here.
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