American Indian law

The landmark World Conference of Indigenous Peoples has been far from the limelight "during a frantic week in New York when world leaders gathered to discuss climate change and the security situation in Syria and Iraq," Radio Australia reports. Kalama Oka Aina Niheu, who is from Hawaii, told Radio Australia that the conference did not provide an avenue for indigenous peoples to voice their concerns about climate change and demilitarization because those issues were kept off that UN conference's agenda. The North American Indian Peoples caucus withdrew its support from the conference, she reports. As a result, she expressed a concern that the conference would be turned into an international version of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and "people who are going to be supported and uplifted in this process are going to be people who support extractive industries and who support mechanisms that actually disempower indigenous peoples," she said in the interview.

The federal government will pay the Navajo Nation $554 million to settle claims that it mismanaged funds and natural resources on the Navajo reservation, according to the Wall Street Journal's Dan Frosch. It's highest-ever such settlement in a case about land the federal government held in trust for an American Indian tribe, according to the WSJ. The Obama administration has paid out more than $1 billion "during the past several years to settle lawsuits filed by dozens of tribes who have made similar claims regarding the chronic mismanagement of trust land and resources by the federal government," the WSJ further reports.

MintPress News' Christine Graef reports on how a revised Violence Against Women Act is putting tribal authorities in charge of cases of abuse and violence against American Indian women: "The reauthorized act extends tribal jurisdiction to non-Native Americans who commit acts of violence or sexual assault against their Native American spouse or partner. While such incidents often go unreported, the amount that are reported reflect a disproportionate number of Native American women will be raped, stalked or physically assaulted compared to their non-Native American peers." According to the Indian Law Research Center, more than 88 percent of violent crimes committed against American Indian women are committed by non-American Indians over which tribal governments lack jurisdiction.

The amendment goes into effect next March.

There are limitations to the amended law. Tribes must have a criminal justice system that provides legal counsel to defendants, provide non-American Indians in a jury pool and inform defendants of their right to file federal habeas corups petitions, Graef writes. Federal prosecutors will continue to prosecute crimes for tribes that don't have their own justice systems. And jurisdiction only applies to cases in which the perpetrator and the victim were in a relationship.

According to the Associated Press, the Interior Department's Bureau of Reclamation is being accused of violating a law meant to protect the cultural property of American Indian tribes. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has told the Interior Department to investigate if the bureau has violated the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which provides a way for American Indian remains and other cultural property to be returned to tribes out of federal custody. The law was enacted to rectify a history in which American Indian remains and sacred objects were scooped up into museum archives and the hands of government bureaucrats.

A whistleblower reported that the office was not keeping detailed records that would ensure the law functions the way it is supposed to, the AP reports.

The remains and artifacts were collected during the construction of dams and waterways in California, Nevada and Oregon, according to the AP.

President Barack Obama's administration is considering a plan that would require voting districts on tribal land have at least one polling site in a location chosen by the tribal governments, Reuters said.

The U.S. Supreme Court, 5-4, has ruled that Michigan can't block an off-reservation American Indian casino from opening because of tribal sovereignity, the Associated Press reports: "The ruling was a win for Indian tribes, which have increasingly looked to casinos as a source of revenue and have relied on immunity to shield them from government interference. But it's a disappointment for Michigan and more than a dozen others states that say the decision will interfere with their ability to crack down on unauthorized tribal casinos."

The Pascua Yaqui is going to be the first American Indian tribe to prosecute a non-American Indian for domestic violence after the Violence Against Women Act was expanded to allow American Indian tribes to have that enforcement authority, the Washington Post reports. While the law is meant to address violent crimes inflicted on Native women by non-Native men, the law does not address every such circumstance: "While it covers domestic and dating-violence cases involving Native Americans on the reservation, the law does not give tribes jurisdiction to prosecute child abuse or crimes, including sexual assault, that are committed by non-Indians who are 'strangers' to their victims. In addition, the law does not extend to Native American women in Alaska," the Post reports.

A Nevada federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission can sue payday lenders, even if they are affiliated with American Indian tribes, the Legal Times reports. The judge ruled "that the FTC Act is a statute of general applicability, one that does not include an exception for Indian tribes," the Legal Times further reported. Tribes argue that they are sovereign and free from regulation by state governments and the U.S. federal government.

Oregon has passed a law to allow school districts to enter into agreements with American Indian tribes to use American Indian mascots and names. But the law is already being threatened by possible litigiation: "Sam Sachs, a racial-justice activist who also is a Portland Human Rights Commissioner, said the state Board of Education is obligated to create a safe environment for all Oregon children to learn free of discrimination and bullying. 'But this new law does not get there,' Sachs said of the bill, which will allow a district school board to enter into an approved written agreement with federally recognized American Indian tribes in Oregon to use a mascot that represents, is associated with, or is significant to the tribe," the Statesman Journal reports.