Here.
While the Court of Appeals found that the grandmother didn’t have standing and properly dismissed the case, opinion notes the Tribal Court had already been exercising jurisdiction over the child in a concurrent child custody matter.
Tohono O’dham Nation
Friday Job Announcements
Job vacancies are posted on Friday. Some announcements might still appear throughout the week. If you would like your Indian law job posted on Turtle Talk, please email indigenous@law.msu.edu.
Morongo Band of Mission Indians
Tribal Associate Judge, contracted for 5-10 hours per month.
Tohono O’odham Nation
Asst. Attorney General: The Office of Attorney General is now hiring an Assistant Attorney General IV, Health, with at least eight years of relevant experience, including experience in health law. The Office of Attorney General represents the interests of the Tohono O’odham Nation in tribal, state, and federal venues.
The Nation offers generous benefits including paid holidays, sick and annual leave, low cost medical, dental, and vision insurance. Applicants must pass a background check. Send resume, legal writing sample, and three references to Acting Attorney General Laura Berglan via email at laura.berglan@tonation-nsn.gov.
Nooksack Indian Tribe
Senior Attorney, closes 10/12/2016.
Tohono O’odham Assistant Attorney General Vacancy
The Office of Attorney General is now hiring an Assistant Attorney General IV, Health, with at least eight years of relevant experience, including experience in health law. The Office of Attorney General represents the interests of the Tohono O’odham Nation in tribal, state, and federal venues.
The Nation offers generous benefits including paid holidays, sick and annual leave, low cost medical, dental, and vision insurance. Applicants must pass a background check. Send resume, legal writing sample, and three references to Acting Attorney General Laura Berglan via email at laura.berglan@tonation-nsn.gov.
A Quick Note on Politics, Indian Gaming Lands Litigation, and Permissive Intervention
In the Gila River Indian Community v. United States litigation over proposed gaming lands benefiting the Tohono O’odham Nation, there have been numerous efforts by Arizona state politicians to intervene in the suit. No party seems to want them there, and they don’t seem to be adding a whole lot to the suit in terms of substance, and the court largely had refused to let individual politicians in the case — at first. Here are the first two orders, denying two such requests:
DCT Order Denying Sen Pearce Motion to Intervene
DCT Order Denying Scott Bundgaard Motion to Intervene
On November 19, however, Judge Campbell permitted the intervention of “Legislative Leaders” of the Arizona Legislature. Here is that order: DCT Order Permitting Intervention of Ariz Legislators.
Why?
Tribal Amicus Briefs in Miranda v. Anchando/Nielson/Pascua Yaqui
NYTs on Tohono O’odham Nation and Mexican Drug Cartels
Here.
An excerpt:
A long-insular tribe of 28,000 people and its culture are paying a steep price: the land is swarming with outsiders, residents are afraid to walk in the hallowed desert, and some members, lured by drug cartel cash in a place with high unemployment, are ending up in prison.
“People will knock on your door, flash a wad of money and ask if you can drive this bale of marijuana up north,” said Marla Henry, 38, chairwoman of Chukut Kuk district, which covers much of the border zone.
The tightening of border security to the east and west, which started in the 1990s and intensified after the Sept. 11 attacks, funneled more drug traffic through the Tohono O’odham reservation, federal officials said, and especially more marijuana, which is hard to slip through vehicle crossings because of its bulk.
A record 319,000 pounds of marijuana were seized on the reservation in 2009, up from 201,000 pounds the previous year, along with small amounts of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
Hundreds of tribal members have been prosecuted in federal, state or tribal courts for smuggling drugs or humans, taking offers that reach $5,000 for storing marijuana or transporting it across the reservation. In a few families, both parents have been sent to prison, leaving grandparents to raise the children.
“People are afraid that if they say no, they’ll be threatened by the cartel,” Ms. Henry said.
Bressi v. Ford — Civil Rights Complaint Against Tohono O’odham Law Enforcement
This case, now in the Ninth Circuit, presents an interesting question of whether tribal officers sued under Section 1983 are immune from suit under the tribal sovereign immunity doctrine. The district court held that the officers were immune because they acted under color of tribal law, not state law.
Here are the materials (so far):
Turtle Talk 