The Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to remove two counties from the federal recognition lawsuit of the Mishewal Wappo Tribe.

Napa County and Sonoma County were allowed to intervene in the lawsuit, which the tribe filed against the federal government. But DOJ says the counties are hindering efforts to reach an agreement in the case.

“The Counties’ stated goal is to block any such agreement by raising defenses to Plaintiffs’ claims, putatively on behalf of the Federal Defendants,” government attorneys wrote, The Napa Valley Register reported.. “In this case, the Counties seek to interpose a defense on behalf of the United States, which they lack standing to do.”

The tribe was terminated by an act of Congress in 1959. The lawsuit claims the federal government failed to abide by the law.

Get the Story:
County could be pushed out of Wappo suit (The Napa Valley Register 4/8)

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