Native American Law Blog

Dept of Interior - Solicitor Tribal Attorneys Conference

Solicitor Hilary Tompkins will host a Second Tribal Attorneys Conference in 2011

When: March 3, 2011

Time: 8:00-5:00 pm

Where: Department of Interior, Yates Auditorium

Included below is the agenda for the conference.  Most of the panels will consist of attorneys from the Solicitor’s Office and from the Indian Bar.

Panelists will present for part of the time allotted and the remaining time will be for discussion with the audience.  We hope that you will join us for this Conference.

Deadline for RSVP is Friday, Feb. 25, 201:  tribalattorneyconference@sol.doi.gov

Please include your name, title, and organization or firm name (as it will appear on your name tag),

and any special needs or accommodations requested.

Agenda:  March 3, 2011

8:00	Registration
9:00	Opening Remarks – Solicitor Tompkins
Panel 1 9:30 am (1 hour)	How DOI works (who are DOI clients, internal structure and interaction between DOI agencies (including NIGC) and SOL and regional offices), and how DOI works with outside agencies
	20 minute Break
Panel 2 (1 hour)	Evolution of sharing records/information and how can DOI fulfill its trust responsibility /working well with tribal government – a day in the life of a tribal attorney and a day in the life of a Solicitor attorney
	Lunch (on your own)
Panel 3 2:00 pm (1 hour)	Affirmative Litigation on behalf of Tribes and Individuals
	20 minute Break
Panel 4 (1 hour)	Accomplishments in the Obama Administration in Indian law and future priorities from the tribal perspective
	Closing Remarks

 -Carolyn

Freedmen and descendants still in limbo pending appeal

From the Tulsa World:

"Judge John Cripps, who ruled last month that the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma had to accept applications from freedmen descendants disenfranchised by a March 2007 citizenship referendum, ruled in favor of the tribe's request to extend a temporary injunction against processing new applications from the affected group. 
The roughly 2,800 freedmen descendants who were tribal citizens before the referendum's passage will retain all rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship. 
To date, the Cherokee Nation has received about 3,500 applications from freedmen descendants. 
The tribe is still accepting applications, as per the district court's ruling, but will not begin to process them until after the tribe's Supreme Court rules on the matter." 

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20110219_11_A17_TAHLEQ262444

Another job announcement.....

Havasupai Tribal Court

Job Announcement


Position Title: Tribal Public Defender

Pay Rate: Dependant on Experience

Supervised by: Havasupai Tribal Council

Closing Date: Open until filled

Summary: To conduct the legal activities and services of the Public Defender’s Office; and to do related work as required. 

Responsibilities: The Tribal Public Defender represents in the Havasupai Tribal Court indigent persons accused of crimes. Representation includes all stages of the proceedings following the arrest of the defendant. This will include meeting with the client, obtaining police and other investigative reports, conducting an independent investigation of the crime, legal research and motion practice, referrals to outside agencies as warranted, negotiating plea agreements or preparing and presenting a defense at jury and bench trials, and other appearances in the Havasupai Tribal Courts as required. The incumbent shall discuss the public defense program with judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and other persons to obtain information and possible action relative to defendants. Confers with office staff on clerical problems, record keeping, and reporting systems, and initiates changes as required. Dictates correspondence and prepares reports.

Term of Office: The term of office shall be for two (2) years.

Knowledge: Philosophy and practice of public defense in tribal courts; duties, powers, limitations, and responsibility of the Public Defender’s Officer; methods and problems of administering the work of a governmental law office; legal principles and their application with emphasis on criminal law; rules of evidence and the conduct of court proceedings; legal research methods.

Ability to: Investigate and defend criminal complaints; analyze difficult and complex facts and legal problems and apply legal principles and their practices; present statements of fact, law, and argument clearly and logically in written and oral form; draft legal instruments and opinions; perform legal research; win the confidence and respect of members of the legal profession, public officials, and other persons contacted in the position.


Employment Standards: 
a. Broad, extensive, and progressively responsible experience as an attorney in criminal law; or,
b. Equivalent combination of training, education, and experience that would provide the required knowledge, abilities, and license.

Qualifications:
1. Have a juris doctor degree from an ABA accredited law school
2. Be a member in good standing of the bar of any state or federal court.
3. Be at least (21) years of age.
4. Have criminal litigation experience and a demonstrated interest in Indian law.
5. Be of high moral character and integrity.
6. Have no felony convictions, no serious misdemeanor conviction, and, within the past twelve months, no misdemeanors in any court.
7. Be physically able to carry out the duties of the office.
8. Submit to and pass pre-employment background check and drug screen, including FBI criminal history background check
9. For persons who meet the above minimum qualifications preference will be given, in the following order, to enrolled members of the Havasupai Tribe, enrolled members of a federally recognized Indian tribe.

Please submit a cover letter, writing sample three pages or longer, and resume by March 02, 2011, to the; 

Havasupai Tribal Council 
PO Box 10
Supai, Arizona 86435 

POSTED: February 10, 2011

(Applicants will be reviewed after a month of the postings)

Carcieri-based challenge brought against Cowlitz Indian Tribe casino plan

From Indian Country Today:

"

A coalition of forces has launched a Cariceri challenge in a lawsuit seeking to block the federal government’s decision to take 152 acres of land into trust for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to build a casino resort near Le Center, Washington.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Jan. 31, just over a month after the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced that the trust lands will serve as Cowlitz’ initial reservation and that the tribe intends to conduct Class III gaming there under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

Clark County is the lead plaintiff in the law suit. It is joined by the City of Vancouver, Wash., an anti-Cowlitz casino group called Citizens Against Casino Shopping, and two individuals who live near the Cowlitz’s proposed casino site, who claim the environment, their quality of life and property values would be negatively impacted by a nearby casino, and two non Indian gaming companies. Dragonslayer, Inc., and Michels Development LLC together own four La Center card rooms that stand to lose substantial business to a full scale casino resort."

 

See the full story HERE.

 

twp

"Officials" of unrecognized tribe get legal lesson in not filing bogus liens

From the Bismarck Tribune:

 

"

A U.S. District Court judge has sentenced two members of an unrecognized Native American tribe to prison for placing $3.4 million liens against a federal judge and a federal prosecutor. One of the men also was sentenced for threatening another federal judge.

Michael Howard Reed, 50, was convicted in October of making threats against U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson and for placing a false lien against U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Jordheim, who was acting U.S. Attorney for North Dakota at the time.

Gregory A. Davis, 44, also was convicted in October for the false liens."

 

See the full story HERE.

 

twphttp://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_817c8c3a-388f-11e0-a3b5-001cc4c002e0.html

Followup - Turtle Talk posts Mikkanen cases

Our colleagues over at Turtle Talk have posted some commentary and links to cases in which Arvo Mikkanen, Native American and nominee to the federal district court in Oklahoma, worked upon.  You can find it all HERE.

One case of GREAT significance he worked on - the Seminole Freedman case.

twp

Has President Obama botched his only Native American appointment to the federal bench?

There are currently no Native Americans sitting as judges on any federal bench.

Unsurprisingly, that fact has led to calls for President Obama to make such an appointment...or multiple such appointments....given the relatively large number of vacant federal judgeships currently extant.  

And so he has...but the appointment is already in trouble.  

The named appointee is Arvo Mikkanen, an assistant US Attorney in Oklahoma City.  Mikkanen is a graduate of Dartmouth and Yale Law School, has served in the past as judge for a number of tribal courts and served as the Chief Justice of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Supreme Court from 1991 to 1994.  If confirmed he wold be only the third American Indian to serve as a federal judge in US history.

But the Obama Administration "dropped the ball."  The nomination "immediately drew negative reactions from key members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation," primarily because none of the members of Oklahoma's delegation were consulted on the nomination, to include US Representative Dan Boren, the only Oklahoma Democrat in the Congress.  Republican Senator Tom Coburn described Mikkanen as "unacceptable" for the post...and in the US Senate, home state senatorial support is usually an absolute requirement for Senate confirmation.  Coburn also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, that handles the judicial nominations.  

The Tulsa World has been particularly good in covering the controversy....tip of the blog editor's hat to "Butkus" who pointed us in that direction.

You can find the Tulsa World stories HERE, HERE, and HERE for more information.

twp

 

San Pasqual Tribe to disenroll 60 on Interior Department ruling

From the San Diego Union Tribune:

"About 60 members of the small San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, which operates the highly successful Valley View Casino, are not really members of the tribe, the United States Department of the Interior ruled Monday.

Those subject to the decision, which overturns one made in 2008, will be ousted from the tribe. They will no longer share in casino profits, will have to move off the reservation, and will not be able to take advantage of any other tribal benefits, the band’s spokesman, Allen Lawson, said Monday."

 

This has been an ongoing fight....will this be the end of it?  We predict an appeal to the federal courts.  See the full story HERE.

 

twp