Here is today’s opinion in Oneida Indian Nation v. Cuomo: OIN v NY CA2 Opinion.
Seneca Nation of Indians
Fordham Law Review Note on Seneca-New York Tax Disputes
Here is the pdf of the article, titled “A Tale of Three Sovereigns: The Nebulous Boundaries of the Federal Government, New York State, and the Seneca Nation of Indians Concerning State Taxation of Indian Reservation Cigarette Sales to Non-Indians.”
And the abstract:
This Note examines the conflict between New York State and the Seneca Nation of Indians regarding the taxation of cigarette sales to non-Indians on Indian reservations. In 1994, the United States Supreme Court found New York’s taxation scheme facially permissible without providing boundaries or guidance for the state’s subsequent enforcement. Seventeen years after the Court’s decision, no taxes have been collected on these sales.
The issue involves conflicting spheres of federal, state, and tribal control. From 1965 to 1994, the Supreme Court balanced these competing interests, creating precedent that has failed to provide a definitive solution to this crisis. The Note examines the background of these decisions, the history of the treaties between the Seneca tribe and the United States, and the shift in federal Indian policy towards promoting a government-to-government relationship between the United States government and Indian tribes.
Lastly, this Note proposes a solution modeled on the example of Washington State. Facing a crisis analogous to that of New York, Washington created a lasting solution to its taxation crisis by forging a relationship of trust between the state, its agencies, and the Indian tribes. This Note advocates that New York follow the same path and create cigarette tax compacts between New York and the Indian tribes.
D.C Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Seneca Indian’s Challenge to PACT Act
Here is the opinion in Gordon v. Holder.
An excerpt:
Plaintiff-Appellant Robert Gordon is a Seneca Indian and a delivery seller of tobacco products. As a delivery seller, Gordon distributes his products by mail, rather than through abrick-and-mortar retail store. See 15 U.S.C. § 375(5)–(6). Prior to the PACT Act, ninety-five percent of Gordon’s business came from the sale of tobacco by internet and phone. But since the Act’s passage, Gordon claims he has lost almost all of his business due to the remedial measures Congress enacted.
Bergal Mitchell Indictment
Here: Bergal Mitchell Indictment.
NYTs: Quoting Haudenosaunee Leaders on Obama’s Promises to Indian Country
Here is the article. An excerpt:
Robert Porter, the president of the Seneca nation in Western New York, said in an interview with the Caucus that Mr. Obama had failed to purse a legislative agenda that would help empower the American Indian nations and improve the economic situation for residents.
“The administration is very easily co-opting us with lofty promises of supporting the nation-to-nation relationship but then not following through,” Mr. Porter said. “We need to have support for meaningful tribal economic empowerment.”
Mr. Porter’s tribe has clashed with the administration over legislation passed last year that banned the direct sales of cigarettes through the mail. The Seneca nation had been an aggressive seller of cigarettes by mail and denounced the legislation as a means of crippling economic activity on American Indian reservations.
A news release in March from the Seneca nation accused Mr. Obama of “deliberately betraying” American Indians by signing the legislation into law.
Seneca Nation Asst. Counsel Job Announcement
SENECA NATION OF INDIANS
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
ASSISTANT COUNSEL
The Seneca Nation of Indians is looking for a highly skilled and motivated attorney to serve as an in-house Assistant Counsel. The ideal applicant is an American Indian with excellent academic and professional credentials who possesses 2-5 years of practice experience in a private law firm with knowledge of and experience in Indian Law. The successful applicant must also possess a personal commitment to the maximization of native sovereignty and the non-interference of foreign governments in the Seneca Nation’s internal affairs. The Assistant Counsel will work closely with all Seneca Nation departments and agencies and will report directly to the Deputy Counsel, Seneca Nation Department of Justice.
Seneca Materials on FERC Notice for Kinzua Hydro License
Seneca Nation of Indians Kinzua Press Release
Update: President Porter Speech on Hydroelectric License [thanks to A.E.]
An excerpt from the press release:
The Seneca Nation ofIndians applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the Seneca Pumped Storage Project at the Kinzua Dam site, President Robert Odawi Porter announced today.
The pumped storage hydropower project generates 450 megawatts of electricity, which corporate interests have sold and profited from for 40 years without compensating the Nation.The hydropower project relies on and every day uses Seneca Nation land and water.
“Filing for the license to operate the Seneca Pumped Storage Project is an especially profound opportunity and a significant moment in time for the Seneca Nation, given the historic injustice that was imposed on our people with the building of the Kinzua Dam,” said PresidentPorter. “The flooding of our lands more than 45 years ago resulted in large-scale, forcible removal of families, destruction of homes and loss of significant lands to which we were spiritually tied. For these reasons, we are entitled to obtain the license because of the historic injustice committed against us,” he said.
Calif. Court of Appeals Decides ICWA Notice Case
Here is the opinion in In re C.B.
An excerpt:
We reverse for limited purposes, specifically to allow adequate notice to be provided to the Seneca tribes and to allow the court to determine, under the proper standard, the applicability of the parent-child relationship exception to termination of parental rights.
Update to Second Circuit Materials in Red Earth v. US (PACT ACT Case)
Here are briefs for Red Earth and amici:
And the amicus brief for the states:
News Coverage of Seneca Election Battle (Featuring Rob Porter!)
From the Buffalo News, via Pechanga:
Robert Odawi Porter, 47, is proud of his Harvard Law School education and the fact that he left behind his career as a law professor to return to his roots in Western New York.
Maurice A. John Sr., 62, calls himself a warrior and says he has battled with the state and federal governments for decades.
The two men, both widely known in their tribe, are facing off in the Seneca Nation presidential election Nov. 2.
Porter has the backing of the powerful Seneca Party, which has dominated the Indian nation’s elections since the 1980s. John, who served a term as president from 2006 to 2008, is an independent.
Each insists he is the one to lead the Senecas through a stormy period marked by fights with the state over cigarette taxes and hundreds of millions of dollars in debts associated with the three Seneca casinos.
“I know I am the underdog. … I’m an old man taking on a big machine,” John told The Buffalo News. “But when I travel around our territories and talk to people face to face, I find that a lot of them agree with me that we have to get our financial house in order. We have to stop running up debts.”
Porter said addressing the debt problem is important to him, too. He wants the Seneca Nation to improve its economy by increasing educational opportunities for young people and by expanding the nation’s business interests beyond cigarettes, gasoline and casinos.
“My family never had a lot of money when I was growing up. We got some of our food from government programs,” Porter said. “What opened the door for me, and changed my life, was education.”
Porter grew up in Salamanca, where he was raised by his mother, Lana Redeye, a teacher who is now the Seneca Nation education director. He graduated from Salamanca High School and later earned degrees from Syracuse University and Harvard Law School.
Turtle Talk 
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