United States Opposes Cert in NLRB Cases

Here are those briefs:

15-1024 Little River Band

15-1034 Soaring Eagle

Cert petitions are here and here.

CNIGA Amicus Brief in Saginaw Chippewa v. NLRB

Here:

CNIGA Amicus Brief

Ute Mountain Ute & State of Colorado File Joint Amicus Brief in Support of Tribal Cert Petitions in NLRB Cases

Here is the brief:

Final CO-UMUT Amicus Cert Petition – Saginaw Chippewa and LRB

Saginaw Chippewa v. NLRB Cert Petition

Here:

Saginaw Cert Petition and Appendix- Filed

Questions presented:

For more than sixty years, the National Labor Relations Board correctly declined to exercise jurisdiction over tribal operations on tribal lands. But in recent years, the Board has belatedly asserted the extraordinary power to regulate the on-reservation activities of sovereign Indian tribes, precipitating a three-way circuit split in the process. Nothing in the text of the National Labor Relations Act changed in that interval; it contains no language granting the Board authority over Indian tribes. Nor has the language of various Indian treaties, like those between the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and the United States, changed; they continue to recognize the Tribe’s authority to exclude non-members. And despite the Board’s complete lack of expertise in Indian law, the Board now dictates that some tribal operations are subject to the NLRA and others are not based on its evaluation of the centrality of certain functions to tribal sovereignty and subtle differences in treaty language. 

This case presents two questions, both of which have divided the courts of appeals:

(1) Does the National Labor Relations Act abrogate the inherent sovereignty of Indian tribes and thus apply to tribal operations on Indian lands? 

(2) Does the National Labor Relations Act abrogate the treaty-protected rights of Indian tribes to make their own laws and establish the rules under which they permit outsiders to enter Indian lands?

Lower court materials here.

 

National Labor Relations Board Reaffirms Its Jurisdiction over Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe

Here is the order and materials:

Board Decision

SCIT Motion to Expedite

SCIT Amended Motion to Expedite

SCIT Supplemental Brief

You may recall this matter is on remand from the Sixth Circuit.

Sixth Circuit Vacates and Remands Saginaw Chippewa/NLRB Decision in Light of Noel Canning

Here:

CA6 Mandate

CA6 Order Vacating and Remanding

The court held moot the Saginaw Chippewa motion for abeyance.

Materials here.

Saginaw Chippewa (Sur)Reply to NLRB Reply in Support of Its Motion for Vacature and Remand

Here:

SCIT Surreply re NLRB Remand Motion [& In Support of Abeyance Motion]

(Now) complete briefing here:

NLRB Motion to Remand

Sag Chip Motion to Hold Appeal in Abeyance

Sag Chip Opposition to NLRB Motion

Szotkowski Declaration

NLRB Reply in Support of Motion to Remand

NLRB Reply to Saginaw Chippewa Response to Motion to Remand

Here:

NLRB Reply in Support of Motion to Remand

Complete briefing here:

NLRB Motion to Remand

Sag Chip Motion to Hold Appeal in Abeyance

Sag Chip Opposition to NLRB Motion

Szotkowski Declaration

 

Sixth Circuit Orders NLRB to Reply to Little River Objections to Motion to Vacate and Remand

Here:

2014-07-28 Order Requiring NLRB Reply

LRB’s opposition is here.

Tenth Circuit Sends Chickasaw/NLRB Matter Back to Board in Light of Noel Canning

Here:

CA10 mandate

CA10 Order

We posted the NLRB’s motion here. We posted the tribe’s response here.