Native American Law Report articles from July 2004

Native American Law Report archives from July 2004

A recent federal labor ruling.(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A RECENT FEDERAL LABOR RULING that took Indian advocates by surprise is heating up as tribes look to maintain the decades of sovereignty they have enjoyed over their own labor issues. In May, the National Labor Relations Board overruled...

Throwing water.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... THROWING WATER on an increasingly hot issue, the Supreme Court has ruled the Seminole Freedmen may not sue the federal government for access to the Seminole Indian Nation's recent settlement money unless the tribe itself decides to become a...

With the availability of seats.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... WITH THE AVAILABILITY OF SEATS for two new justices on the Canadian Supreme Court, aboriginal groups are pushing for the appointment of Justice Harry LaForme, one of only a handful of aboriginal, federally appointed judges in Canada. ...

High Court agrees to decide if tribe must pay taxes on reacquired lands.(Taxation)
July 1, 2004... The Oneida Indian Nation in New York may have to pay state and local taxes on its own treaty lands that it recently reacquired, depending on an upcoming decision by the Supreme Court. The high court agreed to hear the case late last month...

Court rules against N.Y. Casino compact, gives local officials greater leverage.(Gaming)(New York)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A New York state court has invalidated the 11-year-old agreement that allowed the Oneida Indian Nation's Turning Stone Casino to operate. On June 28, the state's Supreme Court ruled that the 1993 compact signed between the nation and...

Lawsuits over cuts to tribal membership rise as Indian gaming industry grows.(Tribal Disenrollment)
July 1, 2004... Former tribal members are flooding California's court system with lawsuits, saying they were cut from their respective tribal membership rolls because of casino greed. Advocates attribute the growing problem to the explosion of the Indian...

States' lawsuit against Energy Dept. over Hanford site could be imminent.(Environment)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... After years spent wrangling over environmental damages at the Hanford nuclear waste site in Washington, cleanup efforts at the site may culminate in a lawsuit by two states against the federal government. Attorneys general from Washington...

Oglala Sioux sues U.S. interior, treasury over management of tribal trust funds.(Trust Fund)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... With a newly filed trust fund lawsuit, a South Dakota tribe has added its personal laundry list to the existing body of lawsuits against the Interior Department for its alleged mishandling of tribal trust fund accounts. Filed in the U.S....

South Dakota's 2003 voter ID law disenfranchised Indians, some allege.(Voter Issues)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Though the June 1 special elections in South Dakota saw major increases in American Indian turnout, it also gave way to legal controversy over a new state law, passed last year, that required voters to produce photo identification in order to...

Commission correctly allowed tribe to tax utilities affecting non-Indians.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)
July 1, 2004... Willman v. Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission Court of Appeals of Washington, Div. 3, No. 22411-2-III (July 1, 2004) A Washington state court has upheld a tribal tax on utilities that was passed through to reservation...

BIA held liable for double damages over mismanagement of tribal timber.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)(Bureau of Indian Affairs)
July 1, 2004... The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon v. United States U.S. Court of Appeals, Fed.Cir., No. 02-5167 (June 8, 2004) A federal appeals court has upheld the award of double damages against the Bureau of Indian...

Exemption for religious peyote use not limited to enrolled tribal members.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)
July 1, 2004... State of Utah v. Mooney Supreme Court of Utah, No. 20010787 (June 22, 2004) The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that the criminal exemption for the religious use of peyote is not limited to enrolled members of federally recognized Indian...

Non-Indians' dispute on reservation does not fall under tribal jurisdiction.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)
July 1, 2004... Tidwell v. Harrah's Kansas Casino Corporation U.S. District Court, D.Kan., No. 03-4014 (June 4, 2004) A federal court has ruled that a non-Indian employee's civil rights suit against a non-Indian employer, located on an Indian reservation,...

Federal labor law does not apply to tribal disputes over police dept.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)
July 1, 2004... Snyder v. The Navajo Nation U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Cir., No. 02-16632 (June 10, 2004) A federal appeals court has ruled that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not apply to tribal law enforcement officers even though they...

State-tribal cooperative agreement to share law enforcement is upheld.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)
July 1, 2004... State of Minnesota v. Manypenny Supreme Court of Minnesota, No. CX-02-855 (July 1, 2004) The Minnesota Supreme Court has upheld the right of a tribal law officer to enforce state criminal laws on the reservation under a tribal-state...

Federal court has jurisdiction over BIA, but not over intra-tribal election result.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)(Bureau of Indian Affairs)
July 1, 2004... Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa Election Board v. Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. District Court, N.D. Iowa, No. C04-1 (June 10, 2004) A federal court has ruled that it had jurisdiction to review the Bureau of Indian Affairs'...

Lawsuit over pollution of allotted land is not subject to arbitration process.(Indian Case Law Abstracts)
July 1, 2004... Quarles v. United States, ex rel. Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Cir., No. 03-5035 (June 16, 2004) A federal appeals court has ruled that the owner of allotted Indian land could sue the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)...

Indian legal scholarship program raises $30k, receives recognition.(Law Scholarships)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Good things are happening for a new Indian lawyer scholarship program in the Northwest, and the national American Bar Association (ABA) has recognized it with an award. ABA issued its Solo and Small Firm Project Award to the Washington...

Tribes resigned after series of defeats; 'ancient one's' bones to undergo tests.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The case over 9,000-year-old human remains, found in Kennewick, Wash., may come to rest if the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) decides July 19 that it will not appeal the last ruling. The Ninth Circuit Court of...