Supreme Court amicus brief

Arizona Rep. Albert Hale Letter to Arizona Governor and AG Objecting to Arizona Signing onto Anti-Indian Brief Filled by Oklahoma in Dollar General

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Dollar General Corp v MI Band of Choctaw Indians_HALE

An excerpt:

The State has joined in support of the Petitioner despite the fact that the State of Mississippi has made the policy decision that on-reservation torts arising in Mississippi should not consume State resources and are better addressed by tribal institutions. The State of Mississippi is submitting an amicus brief in support of the Tribe. Arizona’s decision to sign on to Oklahoma’s amicus brief flies in the face of Mississippi’s sovereign prerogatives on how to interact with Indian Nations within Mississippi’s borders. This is disrespectful; Arizona should stay out of Mississippi’s tribal affairs decisions.

Dollar General briefs and materials are here.

New Fletcher Working Paper on Amicus Briefs in the Supreme Court’s Indian Cases

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

I have posted a fairly rough draft of a new paper titled, “The Utility of Amicus Briefs in the Supreme Court’s Indian Cases,” on SSRN. Comments welcome.

Here is the abstract:

Four times in the past 15 years, arguments or information raised by amici before the Supreme Court have had dramatic impacts on the Court’s decision making process in cases involving federal Indian law. In two cases involving government contracting, amicus briefs filed by the United States Chamber of Commerce supporting tribal interests played important roles in pointing out the impact the Court’s decision would have on defense and other government contractors. In another case, an amicus railroad company alleged that the procedures in one tribal court were stacked against nonmembers, apparently causing the Court to reconsider its views on tribal civil jurisdiction. In a fourth case, an amicus resuscitated a line of argument long thought to be retired from the field (in fact, none of the parties briefed the argument) and persuaded the Court to decide a case on that basis. What about these briefs, as opposed to the hundreds of other Supreme Court amicus briefs filed in the Court’s Indian cases, served to influence the Court so heavily? This short paper hopes to sort out a few general guidelines for amicus brief writers in federal Indian law cases by reviewing a series of amicus briefs and how we know the Court deals with them.