Northern Cheyenne

U.S. Supreme Court denies cert in Montana voting rights case

Matthew Campbell

On January 21, 2025, in Jacobsen, MT Sec. of State v. Montana Democratic Party, et al., the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Montana Supreme Court’s decision that two Montana laws that disenfranchise Native American voters are unconstitutional. The Blackfeet Nation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Western Native Voice, and Montana Native Voice have repeatedly won their challenges to two Montana laws that suppressed the Native vote in Montana by restricting access.

The Montana Legislature passed HB 176 to eliminate Election Day registration, which Native American voters disproportionately rely on to cast votes in Montana. Legislators passed HB 530 to restrict third-party ballot assistance, a service that aids Native voters living on reservations who may have to travel hours to the nearest polling location due to systemic inequities. The lower courts ruled, and the Montana Supreme Court affirmed, that the laws violate provisions of the Montana Constitution, including the right to vote, equal protection, free speech, and due process.

This is the second time that Montana Legislators passed restrictions on ballot collection that the courts determined discriminated against Native voters.

More here.

NYTs: Debate over Little Big Horn Battlefield on Crow Land

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

An excerpt from yesterday’s NYTs article (full article here):

Nearly 30 years ago, a group called the Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee began buying up land around the monument — some 3,300 acres in all — in an effort to stave off development. The group has since tried to donate the land, which it bought for $14 million that was raised through donations, to the Park Service.

But the service has said that unless Congress or the president changes the battlefield’s boundaries, it does not have the legal authority to accept the land.

Moreover, any land deal would need approval from the Crow tribe, which has considerable political influence in Montana and has resisted such a large land transfer.

The tribe cites a 1920 federal law, known as the Crow Act, which it says limits nontribal members to ownership of about 2,000 acres on the reservation, which is almost 2.3 million acres.

“We are trying to explain the advantages of adding on to the historical site right in the middle of their country, which would bring tourists — who need to eat, sleep and buy souvenirs — and produce jobs for Crow people,” said Harold G. Stanton, president of the Custer committee.

Continue reading →

Tongue River Dispute — Montana v. Wyoming Orig.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

This case arises out of a dispute between the two states over the Tongue River, which serves as a source of water for the Northern Cheyenne: “The Northern Cheyenne, whose primary water source is the Tongue River, lent their support to Montana in a move to protect their own claims. The compact specifically says that nothing in the document ‘shall be so construed or interpreted as to affect adversely any rights to the use of the waters of the Yellowstone River and its tributaries owned by or for Indians, Indian tribes and their reservations.'” (from the Billings Gazette).

Here is the government’s brief favoring Montana’s position.

Other briefs will be posted as they come on line.