Supreme Court – Page 70

Onion: Justice Alito Sent Down to Minors

June 11, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “Struggling Justice Alito Sent Down To Lower Federal Court.”

Previously, the Court unveiled its spring line: “Supreme Court Debuts New Spaghetti Strap Sun-Robes For Spring.”

SCOTUS Holds Dollar General v. Mississippi Choctaw

June 8, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is today’s order list.

The Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians cert petition was scheduled for the Court’s Conference last Friday. The Court took no action on the petition. That could mean many things or nothing. It could mean the Court is taking one last look before granting the petition. It could mean the Court is looking at denying the petition but one or more Justices has asked the rest of the Court to wait, or for time to write a dissent on the denial of the cert petition. The fact that the United States has recommended a denial strongly weighs against a grant, but the fact that the Court did not immediately denies cert somewhat mitigates the government’s position. We’ll see in next week or the coming weeks.

The cert stage briefs can be accessed here.

Sac and Fox Nation v. Borough of Jim Thorpe Cert Petition

June 2, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here:

Thorpe Petition and Appendix (00059355)

Question presented:

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) applies to “any” institution or state or local government agency that receives federal funds and “has possession of, or control over,” Native American human remains. The Act requires these covered entities to inventory those remains and, at the request of Native American tribes or lineal descendants, to return them.

The question presented is whether the absurdity doctrine allows courts to exempt otherwise covered entities from NAGPRA based on how the entity acquired the Native American remains.

Lower court materials here.

News coverage here. Thanks to MKN.

United States Recommends Certiorari Grant in Menominee Tribe v. United States

June 2, 2015June 2, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the government’s brief:

US cert response brief

An excerpt:

The court of appeals correctly held that neither the Tribe’s erroneous prediction of the outcome of litigation, nor its expectation that the government would deny its administrative claims, warrants equitable tolling of the CDA’s six-year limitations period. That decision, however, squarely conflicts with the Federal Circuit’s decision in Arctic Slope Native Ass’n v. Sebelius, 699 F .3d 1289 (2012), which found tolling appropriate on materially similar facts. In the government’s view, certiorari is warranted.

Cert petition is here.

Lower court materials here.

State of Nebraska v. Parker Cert Petition

June 2, 2015June 4, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here:

State of Nebraska v Parker cert petition

Questions presented:

In Solem v. Bartlett, the Court articulated a three-part analysis designed to evaluate whether a surplus land act may have resulted in a diminishment of a federal Indian reservation. See 465 U.S. 463, 470-72 (1984). The Court found that the “statutory language used to open the Indian lands,” “events surrounding the passage of a surplus land Act,” and “events that occurred after the passage of a surplus land Act” are all relevant to determining whether diminishment has occurred.

The questions presented by the petition are:

1. Whether ambiguous evidence concerning the first two Solem factors necessarily forecloses any possibility that diminishment could be found on a de facto basis.