Law Commons^™

Kloker V. Fort Peck Tribes, Hallee Kansman

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Kloker v. Fort Peck Tribes investigates and deciphers the application of the Indian canons of construction to the congressional formation and establishment of the Fort Peck reservation in Montana. In general, courts interpret congressional acts creating reservations through the lens of the tribal-federal government trust relationship. Although this case examines different substantive models of legal interpretation and theories of water law, the ultimate dispute is textual in nature—questioning the plain language of the establishment legislation itself.

Maralex Resources, Inc. V. Barnhardt, Bradley E. Tinker

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Maralex Resources v. Barnhardt, Maralex and property owners brought an action to protect private property from BLM inspections of oil and gas lease sites. The Tenth Circuit looked at the plain meaning of a congressional statute and held in favor of Maralex, finding that BLM lacked authority to require a private landowner to provide BLM with a key to inspect wells of their property. The Tenth Circuit held BLM has the authority to conduct inspections without prior notice on private property lease sites; however, it is required to contact the property owner for permission before entering the property.

Hoopa Valley Tribe V. Ferc, Fredrick Aaron Rains

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC, the Hoopa Valley Tribe challenged the intentional and continual delay of state water quality certification review of water discharged from a series of dams on the Klamath River in California and Oregon. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the states of Oregon and California, and PacifiCorp, a hydroelectric operator, were implementing an administrative scheme designed to circumvent a one-year temporal requirement for review imposed on states by the Clean Water Act. This scheme allowed PacifiCorp to operate the series of dams for over a decade without proper state water quality certification. The United States …

Standing For Standing Rock?: Vindicating Native American Religious And Land Rights By Adapting New Zealand's Te Awa Tupua Act To American Soil, Malcolm Mcdermond

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

On February 23, 2017, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (“Tribe”) was forced to disband its nearly year-long protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatened the integrity of its ancestral lands. The Tribe sought declaratory and injunctive relief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, but the court ruled against the Tribe and failed to protect its interests. While the United States was forcibly removing Indigenous protesters, other countries were taking steps to protect Indigenous populations. In unprecedented legislative action, New Zealand took radical steps to protect the land and cultural rights of …

Native American Cultural Dissonance & Dark Heritage Solutions, Victoria Parker

Student Scholarship

This paper argues that public institutions have an obligation to consider the weight of their responsibility to educate and inform the public about all forms of American history and heritage. Moreover, public institutions should embrace controversy, engage discourse and proactively work on exhibiting balanced representations by re-working or removing antiquated and false narratives surrounding Native American history. In this paper, I proffer solutions from case studies, examples, models, and my own perspective as a Native American tribal member, as to what public institutions and curators can do in the future to deal with cultural dissonance and creating awareness of (Native) …

The Wild West Re-Lived: Oil Pipelines Threaten Native American Tribal Lands, Ashley A. Glick

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

The Professional And Amateur Sports Protection Act: How Its Invalidation Will Impact Indian Gaming's Legal And Regulatory Framework, Francisco Olea

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”) was a Federal statute enacted in 1992 that effectively outlawed sports gambling in the United States, with the exception of states such as Nevada, Delaware, and Oregon. In 2011, the State of New Jersey amended its state constitution and enacted a law that would authorize ‘certain regulated sports wagering at New Jersey casinos and racetracks’ while also implementing ‘a comprehensive regulatory scheme for licensing casinos and sporting events.’ Five professional sports leagues brought suit against New Jersey under PASPA, and New Jersey challenged PASPA’s constitutionality based on the anti-commandeering doctrine. Over the …

Sports Betting And Indian Gaming: Should Tribal Casinos Get In The Game?, Kathryn R.L. Rand, Steven Andrew Light

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How Two Sunken Ships Caused A War: The Legal And Cultural Battle Between Great Britain, Canada, And The Inuit Over The Franklin Expedition Shipwrecks, Christina Labarge

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Natural Resource And Natural Law Part I: Prior Appropriation, Robert W. Adler

William & Mary Law Review

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of civil disobedience over public land policy in the West, sometimes characterized by armed confrontations between ranchers and federal officials. This trend reflects renewed assertions that applicable positive law violates the natural rights (sometimes of purportedly divine origin) of ranchers and other land users, particularly under the prior appropriation doctrine and grounded in Lockean theories of property. At the same time, Native Americans and environmental activists have also relied on civil disobedience to assert natural rights to a healthy environment based on public trust, fundamental human rights, and other principles. This Article …

Blackfeet Housing V. Reevis, Et Al, 18-Ap-02 (Blkft. Tr. Ct. App., Feb. 12, 2019), Blackfeet Appellate Court

Court Decisions

In the Blackfeet Tribal Court of Appeals, the Court upheld a lower court determination, upholding an eviction, and that the defendant did violate their lease agreement. The appellate Court finds nothing in the Tribal Trial Court record which gives cause for review of any legal issue and does not find cause to set aside any trial court determinations of fact.

Conceptions Of Sovereignty, Paul Hansen

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

This paper explores conceptions of sovereignty held by Canada’s Indigenous and Western cultures. It seeks to determine what sovereignty entails and how the Crown- Indigenous relationship is affected by the judgments of Canada’s courts. The study makes no attempt to compare the relative merits of Indigenous and Western sovereignty conceptions. Similarly, it does not examine nor attempt to reconcile sovereignty-related tensions that may exist between the Crown and Indigenous peoples.

The research is framed by a two-part question: (1) What are the defining characteristics of Indigenous and Western conceptions of sovereignty; and (2) what impact do the sovereignty-related judgments of …

Law School News: Meet Maine's New Ag, Aaron Frey '08 01-11-2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Wildearth Guardians V. United States Bureau Of Land Management, Seth Sivinski

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. BLM, the District Court of Colorado showed that economic and developmental uncertainty is an area where agencies are given broad discretion in deciding whether an impact is reasonably foreseeable and requires a further conformity analysis under the Clean Air Act. This case exemplifies the tactical limitation of using climate change and the science around it to force greater analysis of projects undertaken by federal agencies. However, the court presented a potential roadmap for successful future challenges.

Solenex Llc V. Jewell, F. Aaron Rains

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Solenex LLC v. Jewell, the Secretary of the Interior cancelled a highly contentious oil and gas lease in Montana’s Badger-Two Medicine area, an environmentally sensitive and culturally significant area to the Blackfeet Tribe, nearly thirty years after the lease had been issued. Solenex, a Louisiana based oil and gas company and holder of the lease, brought this action to enjoin the cancellation. The District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with Solenex and found that the Secretary’s decision took an unreasonable amount of time and violated good-faith contractual obligations. On these grounds, the court found the Secretary’s …

Lobbying Against The Odds, Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Tribal Sovereign Immunity As A Defense At The Patent Trial And Appeal Board? Or A Violation Of U.S. Antitrust Laws?, Samantha Roth

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This Comment will address two primary issues. First, it will analyze the basis of sovereign immunity rights of tribes, with a focus on the relationship between intellectual property rights and sovereignty. Second, it will discuss whether this arrangement violates the antitrust laws of the United States. This Comment concludes that even if a claim of tribal sovereign immunity is legitimate, it is likely that such an arrangement still violates the relevant antitrust claims.

Reviewing St. Regis: Unresolved Issues At The Intersection Of Tribal Sovereign Immunity And Patent Law, Lucas Paez

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In July 2018, the Federal Circuit ruled that sovereign immunity does not circumvent an inter partes review brought by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. By deciding against the tribe in Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals ("St. Regis"), the court determined that inter partes reviews are adjudicatory proceedings brought by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and not an action brought by a private party. This ruling was the second significant ruling regarding inter partes reviews of the year, the first being the Supreme Court holding that inter partes reviews are constitutional. While the specific matter in …

A Watershed Moment In The Education Of American Indians: A Judicial Strategy To Mandate The State Of New Mexico To Meet The Unique Cultural And Linguistic Needs Of American Indians In New Mexico Public Schools, Preston Sanchez, Rebecca Blum-Martinez

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Savage Equalities, Bethany Berger

Faculty Articles and Papers

Equality arguments are used today to attack policies furthering Native rights on many fronts, from tribal jurisdiction over non-Indian abusers to efforts to protect salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. These attacks have gained strength from a modem movement challenging many claims by disadvantaged groups as unfair special rights. In American Indian law and policy, however, such attacks have a long history, dating almost to the founding of the United States. Tribal removal, confinement on reservations, involuntary allotment and boarding schools, tribal termination-all were justified, in part, as necessary to achieve individual Indian equality. The results of these policies, justified …

A Comparative Analysis: Legal And Historical Analysis Of Protecting Indigenous Cultural Rights Involving Land Disputes In Japan, New Zealand, And Hawai'i, Zachary Browning

Washington International Law Journal

This article explores how courts in developed market economies address the tension between recognizing the rights of indigenous groups and addressing questions of land development that supposedly benefit the majority populations. Using a comparative approach, the article identifies three jurisdictions in the Pacific Rim with indigenous populations: (1) the State of Hawai‘i in the United States, (2) Japan, and (3) New Zealand and analyzes how land use courts and administrative bodies have addressed the thorny question pursuing development while fulfilling their obligations to indigenous populations. While the State of Hawai‘i has explicit state constitutional protections, Japan and New Zealand each …

Board Of Editors

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crowley Acknowledgement

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Letter To The Reader

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Indigenous Law At The Supreme Court Of Canada, Russell Brown

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Amici Curiae Indian Law Professors In Support Of Petitioner, Monte Mills

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Loyalties And Royalties: The Osage Nation’S Energy Sovereignty Plan And Wind Farm Opposition, Summer L. Carmack

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Enough Is Enough : Ten Years Of Carcieri V . Salazar, Bethany C. Sullivan, Jennifer L. Turner

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Ten years ago, the United States Supreme Court issued its watershed decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, landing a gut punch to Indian country. Through that decision, the Supreme Court upended decades of Department of the Interior regulations, policy, and practice related to the eligibility of all federally recognized tribes for the restoration of tribal homelands through the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. The Court held that tribes must demonstrate that they were “under federal jurisdiction” in 1934 to qualify for land into trust under the first definition of “Indian” in the IRA. Carcieri has impacted all tribes by upending …