Here:
American Cancer Society Amicus Brief
Seneca Nation of Indians
Seneca Brief in Second Circuit Appeal of Rejection of Leave to Intervene in Gaming Case
Here: Seneca Brief.
Mayor Bloomberg a Hate Crime Perpetrator?
The Seneca Nation council has authorized the nation’s president to file a human rights violation and a hate crime complaint with local, state and international bodies against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for making “derogatory racial statements” against the nation and its citizens.
Council member J.C. Seneca put a resolution called “Condemning Statements of Mayor Bloomberg” before the council Aug. 14 regarding comments the mayor made in an interview Aug. 13 with New York Daily News.
“In his remarks, Mayor Bloomberg included derogatory racial statements, against the Seneca Nation and its members, including a statement encouraging (New York Gov. David Paterson) to, ‘you know, get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun’ and to commence an armed occupation of the nation’s Cattaraugus Territory for the purpose of making a video of the governor standing on the NYS Thruway with said cowboy hat and shotgun,” the resolution says.
Seneca’s resolution said the mayor’s remarks disparaged the Seneca Nation’s “treaty protected tobacco economy.”
As the Daily News described the interview, “Mayor Bloomberg, channeling his inner Wyatt Earp, shot himself in the foot Friday.”
“I’ve said this to David Paterson. … If there’s ever a great video, it’s you standing in the middle of the New York State Thruway saying, you know, ‘Read my lips – the law of the land is this, and we’re going to enforce the law.’”
Seneca Response to Mayor Bloomberg
From the PR Newswire, via Pechanga:
The Seneca Nation of Indians passed a Tribal Council Resolution on Saturday, August 14 condemning the recent derogatory and racial comments against the Nation and its membership.
Sponsored by Tribal Councillor J.C. Seneca, the resolution demands that Mayor Bloomberg resign his post as Mayor of New York City, provides a formal written apology to the Seneca Nation and its members, asks New York State Governor David Paterson to publically condemn Mayor Bloomberg’s comments and authorizes Seneca President Barry Snyder to file human rights and hate crime violations with the State of New York, US Justice Department and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous People.
RESOLUTION
Condemning Statements of Mayor Bloomberg
Sponsor:
J.C. Seneca
Second:
Travis Jimerson
Date:
August 14, 2010
WHEREAS, On August 13, 2010, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg publically made disparaging statements regarding the Seneca Nation’s Treaty protected tobacco economy; and
WHEREAS, In his remarks, Mayor Bloomberg’s included derogatory racial statements, against the Seneca Nation and its members, including a statement encouraging Governor Paterson to, “[y]ou know, get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun” and to commence an armed occupation of the Nation’s Cattaraugus Territory for the purpose of making a video of the Governor standing on the NYS Thruway with said cowboy hat and shotgun; and
WHEREAS, as recently as August 3rd of this year, Mayor Bloomberg stood before the Statue of Liberty and spoke of tolerance, respect and the defense of Constitutionally protected freedoms, in his support of the proposed Islamic Community Center and Mosque to be constructed at the site of Ground Zero; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Bloomberg’s contradictory positions regarding the constitutional protections afforded to those involved in the Islamic Center and Mosque, vs. those afforded to the Nation and its members, are demonstrative of the continued ignorance of the Nation’s own Constitutionally protected Treaties as the supreme law of the land, which provide the underlying protections for the Nation’s tax immune status on which its economy is based; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Bloomberg’s cavalier attitude and inflammatory remarks, by which he encourages armed conflict as a means for resolution, evidences tremendous disrespect to those Nation members and New York State Police officers who, to this day, bear the scars and trauma of the actual — not hypothetical — conflict that has twice occurred on the Nation’s territory, is considered by the Council to be a hate crime and violation of human rights; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bloomberg’s hypocritical support of Constitutional protections, only when they don’t impact the New York City budget, coupled with his uneducated and uninformed statements on the issue, serve to fan the flames of aggression, and undermine the potential for peaceful resolution of these matters, while perpetuating a long dormant policy of Indian termination which dates back to the days of General Custer’s failed battle of Little Bighorn.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT
Oklahoma Supreme Court Applies Tobacco MSA to Native Wholesale Supply
Here is the opinion in Oklahoma ex rel. Edmundson v. Native Wholesale Supply.
An excerpt:
This appeal presents two dispositive issues for the court’s resolution: (1) Is an Oklahoma court a constitutionally sanctioned forum for the exercise of personal jurisdiction to adjudicate an alleged violation of a state statute by Native Wholesale Supply, a nonresident corporation that claims to have no minimum contacts with Oklahoma? and (2) Does federal law bar Oklahoma from enforcing the Complementary Act against Native Wholesale Supply, a tribally-chartered corporation wholly owned by an individual of Native-American ancestry? We answer the first question in the affirmative and the second in the negative.
Seneca Business Wins TRO against Enforcement of PACT Act
Here’s the short opinion in Red Earth LLC v. United States (W.D. N.Y.): Order – TRO (06-28-10).
And here’s the motion: Red Earth Motion for TRO
Federal Court Dismisses Some of Opposition Groups Claims re: Buffalo Casino
Here are the materials in Citizens against Casino Gambling in Erie v. Hogen (W.D. N.Y.) (via Indianz):
CACGEC Opposition to NIGC Motion
Is the Indian Tobacco Market Dead?
NYTs Article on Seneca Nation’s Efforts to Oppose Federal Anti-Indian Smoke Sales Bill
Here.
An excerpt:
There is a relatively short list of people who like mail-order cigarettes: teenagers, adults evading sales taxes and the Seneca Nation of Indians of western New York, which dominates the national market.
Even the big tobacco companies oppose the practice, in part to stamp out the Senecas’ competition. And with the industry’s strange-bedfellow backing, a bill to block the shipment of cigarettes passed the House of Representatives last spring by a vote of 397 to 11. A Senate committee approved it unanimously last fall.
But then the Senecas, who control a gambling and cigarette empire that brings in more than $1 billion a year, began a campaign of back-room lobbying and public political threats. That now appears to have shut down the legislation and kept the tribe in the cigarette business, a case study in the power of a well-financed special interest to thwart what had seemed to be a national consensus.
“Isn’t that the way things go in the American system?” asked Richard Nephew, co-chairman of the Seneca Nation’s foreign relations committee. “It is something new for us to actively get involved in the American political process,” he said. “But we are trying to learn what works in America, and I guess making political contributions is something that works.”
As recently as December, a ban on mail-order cigarettes called the PACT Act — for Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking — looked all but certain to become law. After the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the House measure, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, prepared the bill for passage on the floor. No senator has publicly opposed the legislation.
But at the last minute, two or three Democratic senators told party leaders privately that they might block the bill, according to senior Senate Democratic aides. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Seneca Gaming Corp. v. Merrill Lynch Materials
Here are the materials in this pending case (news article here via Pechanga):
Turtle Talk 
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