A third bill has been introduced to fix the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), the only Native American in Congress, introduced H.R.1291 last Thursday. It clarifies that the Bureau of Indian Affairs can place land in trust for "any federally recognized Indian tribe."

The bill states that "Indian tribe" means "any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe."

Another version of the fix, H.R.1234, was introduced by Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Michigan), the co-chairman of the House Native American Caucus, last Wednesday. Unlike Cole's bill, it includes a section that ratifies all prior land-into-trust decisions made by the BIA.

But both versions state that the fix to the Indian Reorganization Act shall take effect as if it were included when the law was originally passed in 1934.

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee introduced S.676 last Wednesday. It's identical to H.R.1234.

Supreme Court Decision:
Syllabus | Opinion [Thomas] | Concurrence [Breyer] | Dissent [Stevens] | Concurrence/Dissent [Souter]

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