Mealey's Native American Law
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October 18, 2018
Native American Worker Loses Race Bias Claim On Summary Judgment
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A medical officer candidate at an Indian hospital failed to show that he was fired because he is Native American or that the reasons for his firing were merely pretext for racial discrimination, a New Mexico federal judge held Oct. 15 in awarding summary judgment to the candidate’s employer (Calbert Lee v. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, No. 16-366, D. N.M., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176719).
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October 18, 2018
Amici Plead For Reversal Of New York’s Tribal Cigarette Tax Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Native American tribes in New York asked the U.S. Supreme Court Oct. 9 to grant certiorari to decide how the New York Indian Law applies to the state’s attempt to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on an Indian reservation to nontribal members (Eric White, et al. v. Barbara D. Underwood, et al., No. 18-297, U.S. Sup.).
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October 17, 2018
Tribe: Venue Of Fracking Permit Dispute Should Not Be Moved To North Dakota
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation on Oct. 15 filed a brief in District of Columbia federal court arguing that a hydraulic fracturing company and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) should not be permitted to transfer a fracking permit dispute to North Dakota because the tribe’s preference for venue is “entitled to substantial deference” (Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation v. The United States Department of the Interior, et al., No. 18-1462, D. D.C.).
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October 16, 2018
9th Circuit Declines To Rehear Parents’ ICWA Race Bias Claims
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 15 denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by parents of Native American children whose parental rights have been terminated and whose class claims challenging the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) were deemed moot in a recent Ninth Circuit decision (Carol Coghlan Carter, et al. v. John Tahsuda, et al., No. 17-15839, 9th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 28964).
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October 15, 2018
Arbitration Row Over Indian Casino Tax Not Cert Worthy, High Court Justices Say
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15 denied certiorari for a ruling vacating an arbitration award in favor of an Oklahoma Indian tribe in a dispute with the state over a casino drink tax on the ground that a gaming compact’s arbitration section is unenforceable (Citizen Potawatomi Nation v. Oklahoma, No. 17-1624, U.S. Sup.).
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October 12, 2018
California Tribe Sues Over Government’s Changes To Salmon Fishery
EUREKA, Calif. — A California Indian tribe sued the U.S. government Oct. 10 in federal court to protect a threatened salmon species that has always been “the mainstay of the life and culture of the Tribe” (Hoopa Valley Tribe v. Wilbur Ross, et al., No. 1:18-cv-06191, N.D. Calif.).
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October 11, 2018
Tribes Seek Stay While They Appeal Finding That ICWA Is Unconstitutional
FORT WORTH, Texas — Four Native American tribes on Oct. 10 sought a stay of a Texas federal judge’s recent finding that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) violates the U.S. Constitution, saying they will probably succeed in overturning the ruling on appeal (Chad Brackeen, et al. v. Ryan Zinke, et al., No. 4:17-cv-00868, N.D. Texas).
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October 11, 2018
9th Circuit Orders Tribes, Washington To Respond To Rehearing Request
SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 2 ordered the state of Washington and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to respond to Teck Cominco Metals Ltd.’s Sept. 28 motion for a panel rehearing and request for en banc hearing of a Sept. 14 decision that affirmed a federal court’s finding that the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are entitled to recover more than $8.25 million in response costs from a polluter of the Columbia River for enforcement actions taken under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (Joseph A. Pakootas, et al. v. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd., No. 16-35742, 9th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 27942).
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October 10, 2018
9th Circuit Affirms Tribal Court Jurisdiction In Police Forfeiture Case
SEATTLE — A patron of an Indian casino whose vehicle was confiscated by the tribe after marijuana was found inside must first present his conversion claims against a tribal officer and a towing company to the tribal court based on comity, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided Oct. 9 (Curtiss Wilson v. Horton’s Towing, et al., No. 16-35320, 9th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 28430).
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October 10, 2018
Supreme Court Rejects Native Americans’ Bid To Halt North Dakota’s Voting Rules
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 9 let stand a divided Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision allowing North Dakota to require street addresses to determine voter eligibility for the November general election, a practice that had been barred for the primary election by a federal court as being discriminatory against Native Americans and others (Richard Brakebill, et al. v. Alvin Jaeger, No. 18A335, U.S. Sup.).
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October 9, 2018
High Court Permits Split Argument In Washington State’s Tax Fight With Tribe
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A motion by the United States to participate in U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in a dispute over whether an 1855 Indian treaty protects a tribe in Washington state from paying state taxes on gasoline it hauls to a reservation was granted Oct. 9 by the high court (Washington State Department of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc., No. 16-1498, U.S. Sup.).
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October 9, 2018
State Allowed To Argue To High Court In Long-Running Alaska National Parks Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court justices announced Oct. 9 that they will allow Alaska to participate in oral arguments in a dispute over the extent of control the federal government has over land and water in Alaska national parks under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) (John Sturgeon v. Bert Frost, et al., No. 17-949, U.S. Sup.).
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October 9, 2018
Solicitor General Can Weigh In On Indian Reservation Boundary Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 9 allowed the U.S. solicitor general to participate in oral arguments in a dispute over the size of a Native American reservation in Oklahoma and whether a murder occurred in “Indian country,” but did not rule on a request by the tribe in question to also argue its case before the justices (Mike Carpenter v. Patrick Dwayne Murphy, No. 17-1107, U.S. Sup.).
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October 4, 2018
Panel Upholds Transfer Of Opiate Drug Cases To MDL In Ohio
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Oct. 3 refused to vacate orders transferring seven cases related to the alleged marketing and distribution of opiate drugs to multidistrict litigation in Ohio, holding that the cases were factually related and involved common questions (In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804, J.P.M.L., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170489).
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October 4, 2018
Trump Administration: Groups’ National Monument Cases Have ‘Incurable Defects’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration on Oct. 1 filed a brief in District of Columbia federal court contending that groups opposing the reduction in size of two national monuments have filed their lawsuits prematurely and the cases themselves “suffer multiple, incurable defects” (Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 17-2591, D. D.C., The Wilderness Society, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 17-2587, D. D.C. [consolidated]).
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October 1, 2018
High Court Justices Will Not Hear Dispute Over Land Acquisition For California Tribe
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari on Oct. 1 for a California county’s challenge to the federal government’s taking of land for an Indian tribe’s planned casino (Amador County, California v. United States Department of the Interior, et al., No. 17-1432, U.S. Sup.).
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October 1, 2018
Justices Deny Certiorari For Tribal Hunting, Fishing Rights Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A dispute among Washington state Indian tribes over the right to hunt whales and seals on their traditional hunting grounds in the Pacific Ocean will not be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied certiorari on Oct. 1 (Makah Indian Tribe, et al. v. Quileute Indian Tribe, et al., No. 17-1592, U.S. Sup.).
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October 1, 2018
Circuit Split Over HUD Tribal Funding Will Not Get Supreme Court Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two rulings by different federal appeals courts about the repayment of federal housing money to Indian tribes will not be subject to U.S. Supreme Court review; the justices on Oct. 1 denied two petitions for certiorari filed by tribes and their housing agencies (Fort Peck Housing Authority, et al. v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, et al., No. 17-1353, Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, et al. v. United States, No. 17-1419, U.S. Sup.).
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October 1, 2018
High Court Invites Solicitor General To File Brief On Issue Of Tribal Immunity
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 1 invited the solicitor general of the United States to file a brief to express the views of the United States regarding an Alabama Supreme Court finding that an Indian tribe is not protected by tribal sovereign immunity from tort claims in a car crash negligence suit (Poarch Band of Creek Indians, et al. v. Casey Marie Wilkes, et al., No. 17-1175).
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October 1, 2018
Granddaughter Of Black Indian Slave Loses Fight For Accounting In High Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court justices on Oct. 1 said their review is not needed for claims by a descendant of a black slave of a Native American slave owner who seeks an accounting for oil and gas revenues due to black freedmen of former slaveholding Indian tribes (Leatrice Tanner-Brown, et al. v. Ryan Zinke, et al., No. 17-1681, U.S. Sup.).