Supreme Court – Page 15

Scholars’ Circle Interviews: Bob Miller, Liz Reese, and Fletcher on Castro-Huerta

July 27, 2022Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. It’s like a podcast thing-y.

Cert Petition in Big Horn County Electric Cooperative Inc. v. Big Man

July 27, 2022November 28, 2022Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Big Horn Petition.pdf Download

Big Horn Petition Appendix.pdf Download

Question presented:

Whether an Indian tribal court has subject-matter jurisdiction to adjudicate a tribally created claim as an “other means” of regulating a nonmember federally funded and federally regulated electric cooperative tasked with providing electrical service to all customers within its service territory, including tribal members on Indian reservations?

Lower court materials here.

Update:

Big Man Brief in Opposition.pdf Download

Reply.pdf Download

NCAI Amicus Brief in Merrill v. Milligan

July 20, 2022July 20, 2022Matthew Campbell

On January 24, 2022, a unanimous three-judge court in the Milligan case blocked Alabama’s newly drawn congressional map. The Court ordered the state Legislature to draft a new congressional map that complies with the Voting Rights Act by including two districts where Black voters have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The Supreme Court is now hearing the case.

Here is NCAI’s amicus brief in the matter.

ncai-21-1086_amicus-brief Download

Dept. of Justice [almost certainly over Interior’s objections] and Arizona File Cert Petitions in Navajo Nation Water Rights Trust Suit

July 18, 2022July 18, 2022Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the petition in Dept. of the Interior v. Navajo Nation:

US Cert Petition.pdf Download

Question presented:

Whether the federal government owes the Navajo Nation an affirmative, judicially enforceable fiduciary duty to assess and address the Navajo Nation’s need for water from particular sources, in the absence of any substantive source of law that expressly establishes such a duty.

Here is the petition and the partial acquiescence by Justice in Arizona v. Navajo Nation:

Arizona v. Navajo Nation Cert Petition.pdf Download

US Response — Arizona v. Navajo Nation.pdf Download

Questions presented:

I. Does the Ninth Circuit Opinion, allowing the Nation to proceed with a claim to enjoin the Secretary to develop a plan to meet the Nation’s water needs and manage the mainstream of the LBCR so as not to in- terfere with that plan, infringe upon this Court’s re- tained and exclusive jurisdiction over the allocation of water from the LBCR mainstream in Arizona v. California?
II. Can the Nation state a cognizable claim for breach of trust consistent with this Court’s holding in Jicarilla based solely on unquantified implied rights to water under the Winters Doctrine?

Lower court materials here.