Mealey's Native American Law : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Native American Law

November 14, 2023
Michigan Federal Judge Adopts Recommendation, Dismisses Claims Against Tribal Judge

MARQUETTE, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge adopted a report and recommendation in which a magistrate judge found that claims of due process and equal protection violations brought by a tribal lay advocate against a tribal judge and an attorney for allegedly conspiring against the advocate by not providing him notice of a tribal court hearing fail because the tribal judge has immunity and the attorney is not a state actor.
November 14, 2023
Proposed Consent Decree Filed In Native American Bias Case Against S.D. Hotel

RAPID CITY, S.D. — In South Dakota federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and owners and managers of a hotel jointly filed a proposed consent decree that would resolve the DOJ’s claims that the owners and managers violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Native Americans.
November 14, 2023
D.C. Federal Judge: Tribe Seeking Recognition Failed To Identify Final Action

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Native American tribe in Connecticut seeking federal acknowledgement failed to identify a reviewable final agency decision in its complaint brought against the U.S. Department of Interior’s (DOI) Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA), a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting the OFA’s motion to dismiss.
November 13, 2023
In Tribal Land Pipeline Dispute, N.D. Federal Judge Severs Trespass Counterclaim

BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota federal judge severed and stayed a counterclaim brought by the United States against the owner and operator of an oil and gas pipeline that formerly operated on tribal land but no longer maintains proper rights of way because the claim was “of a separate nature” than the company’s administrative law claims.
November 10, 2023
Judge Dismisses With Prejudice Groups’ Challenges To Willow Project Approval

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska on Nov. 9 dismissed with prejudice all claims brought by environmental groups and Native Americans who oppose the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, ruling that federal agencies were not “arbitrary and capricious” in reaching the conclusion that the project should be approved.
November 10, 2023
Panel: N.D. Legislature Had Good Reason To Create Native American Subdistricts

BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota’s Legislative Assembly did not violate the equal protection rights of two men who said the state’s 2021 voter redistricting created two racially gerrymandered subdistricts that favored Native Americans because the state had good reason to believe that the Native American tribes in those areas would have claims under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) if the subdistricts weren’t drawn that way, a panel of three federal judges found in disposing of three motions for summary judgment.
November 09, 2023
Tribal Appellate Court Declines To Consider Motion Not Raised Before Trial Court

POPLAR, Mont. — The Fort Peck Court of Appeals of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes refused to consider a motion regarding whether a pro se defendant was competent enough to represent himself in a criminal case where he was found guilty because the motion was filed in the trial court after the appeal.
November 09, 2023
1st Circuit: Taking Tribal Land Into Trust Was Not Arbitrary Or Capricious

BOSTON — A U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) decision to take into trust land owned by the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe was not arbitrary or capricious or not in accordance with the law because the tribe meets the definition of “Indian” for the purposes of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a trial court’s decision.
November 09, 2023
California, Tribe Agree That State Negotiated Gaming Compact In Bad Faith

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a stipulation filed by California and an Indian tribe in which they said the state failed to negotiate a gaming compact in good faith under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) by bringing up topics of family, environmental and tort law.
November 07, 2023
Judge Dismisses Tribal Members’ Challenge Of Crow Water Rights Settlement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge has dismissed on the merits a complaint by several Montana Native Americans alleging that a tribal water rights settlement agreement and enacting legislation deprive them of their senior water rights and devalue their properties.
November 07, 2023
Amici Tell 10th Circuit Biden Exceeded Authority With National Monuments Decision

DENVER — On Nov. 6, multiple parties filed amicus curiae briefs in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in support of Utah and two counties that have appealed the ruling of a lower court on grounds that that court erred when it dismissed the state and counties’ claims against the Biden administration for its decision to reinstate the dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments because the action exceeded the scope of the Antiquities Act.
November 02, 2023
Alaska Native Corporation Is Not An ‘Employer’ Under Title VII, Federal Judge Says

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A former employee of an Alaska Native corporation who says she was discriminated against by the company failed to state her claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because such corporations are expressly excluded from the statute, a Texas federal judge found in adopting a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation.
November 02, 2023
10th Circuit: Prisoner Who Said He Is Not Native American Not Entitled To Appeal

DENVER — A prisoner who argued that Oklahoma had no criminal jurisdiction over him because he was a Native American is not entitled to a certificate of appealability for the denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus because he later admitted that he is not a Native American, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found.
November 02, 2023
Oil Company Agrees To Pay $16 Million To Resolve Alleged Royalty Underpayments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Public Affairs in a Nov. 1 press release announced that a natural gas company has agreed to pay the United States $16 million in exchange for resolution of allegations that the company underpaid royalties it owed to the United States pursuant to federal and Native American land leases under which it produces natural gas.
November 02, 2023
Tribal Officers And Judges Are Entitled To Immunity In Dispute Over Child Custody

SPOKANE, Wash. — Members of the Yakama Nation Tribal Council and several Yakama Nation judges are entitled to either sovereign immunity or absolute immunity from claims brought by a man who alleged that his rights were violated by the individuals after a tribal judge granted custody of his children to his partner, a Washington federal judge ruled in granting the members and judges’ motion to dismiss.
November 02, 2023
Supreme Court Won’t Review 9th Circuit Decision On Water Rights Adjudications

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied an Oregon water district’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which it asked the court to reverse a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that it said gives two Native American tribes “veto” power over state water rights adjudications in the Klamath Basin.
October 31, 2023
Utah Tells 10th Circuit Biden Exceeded Authority With National Monuments Order

DENVER — Utah and two counties on Oct. 30 filed an opening appellant brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that a lower court erred when it dismissed their claims against the Biden administration for its decision to reinstate the dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments because the action exceeded the scope of the Antiquities Act.
October 30, 2023
Judge Nixes Lease Dispute, Says Plaintiff Did Not Exhaust Administrative Remedies

BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge in North Dakota has dismissed an oil and gas lease dispute against federal agencies and an energy company and has ruled that a hydraulic fracturing operator’s motion to dismiss is moot in a lawsuit regarding a mineral leasehold interest located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, concluding that the plaintiff must exhaust administrative remedies before bringing suit in federal court.
October 30, 2023
Calif. Federal Judge: Tribal Police Officers Are Protected By Sovereign Immunity

SAN DIEGO — In conducting a preliminary review of a in forma pauperis complaint filed by a man who sought damages for an alleged illegal search by two tribal police officers, a California federal judge found that the man failed to state a claim because the tribe and its officers are protected by sovereign immunity.
October 27, 2023
California Panel: Sovereign Immunity Protects Tribe From Employment Claims

SAN DIEGO — Sovereign immunity protects the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians and two of its employees who were alleged to have violated state law and the U.S. Constitution when they informed a man recently hired by the band that he would have to maintain a gaming license that required him to pay child support to work at the tribe’s hotel, a California appellate court panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment.
October 26, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Application To Stay Over Florida Tribe’s Online Gaming Pact

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 25 denied an application filed by two casinos that asked the high court to stay the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ mandate for two cases in which the Circuit Court found that a gaming compact between Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida granting the tribe exclusive rights to offer sports betting services in the state was lawful.
October 26, 2023
Wyoming High Court Affirms Jury Verdict, Says Firm Did Not Steal Funds From Tribe

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — In affirming a jury verdict that determined that a law firm did not steal any money from Wyoming’s Northern Arapaho Tribe after the decades-long relationship between the parties was ended, the Wyoming Supreme Court held that racially charged evidence was erroneously admitted at trial but that the evidence did not ultimately affect the verdict.
October 24, 2023
Appeal Filed Over Access To Native American Sacred Site During Park Rehabilitation

NEW ORLEANS — Two members of a Native American church have appealed to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an order partly granting their motion for a preliminary injunction in which they argued that San Antiono, Texas, violated state and federal law by limiting access to a sacred site in a city park that is undergoing a rehabilitation project.
October 23, 2023
Minn. High Court Creates New General Rule Of Practice For Indian Child Welfare Act

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Supreme Court announced in an order that a new General Rule of Practice for the District Courts will go into effect in January 2024 that will require parties and courts in third-party custody actions to take affirmative steps to determine whether a child is an Indian child for the purposes of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
October 23, 2023
Kan. Federal Judge Dismisses Some Of Native American Woman’s Discrimination Claims

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Native American woman who says she was subject to racial harassment and discrimination by her employer failed to allege facts in support of her hostile work environment claim and failed to bring her retaliatory harassment claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a Kansas federal judge found Oct. 20 in partly granting the employer’s motion to dismiss.