The
Timbisha Shoshone Tribe of
Nevada will continue to fight a law that requires the distribution of a $185 million trust fund, a leader said.
Chairman Joe Kennedy and his council filed the lawsuit. But the
Bureau of Indian Affairs refused to recognize him as the rightful leader of the tribe.
Another election was held, resulting in the seating of a different group of leaders.
As a result, the
D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals said the lawsuit must be dismissed.
"This fight is not over," Kennedy said in a
press release. "We will continue to seek justice for the Timbisha as well as for all Western Shoshone peoples, and indigenous peoples across the country.”
Robert T. Coulter, the executive director of the
Indian Law Resource Center,
said the decision gives the federal government the power to "get rid of a tribal government and prevent it from suing." Coulter is representing Kennedy's council.
“For more than a century, Congress has done practically whatever it wished with Indian property and Indian monies held by the federal government, but in this suit the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe argued that such practices are unconstitutional," Coulter said.
The tribe could ask the DC Circuit to reconsider or ask the
U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
Get the Story:
DC court: Tribal faction can't block land payments
(AP 5/17)
DC Circuit Decision:
Timbisha
Shoshone Tribe v. Salazar (May 15, 2012)
Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act:
Bill
Report |
H.R.884
|
S.618
Related Stories:
DC Circuit dismisses challenge to Western
Shoshone trust bill (5/16)
Timbisha Shoshone
Tribe sues to stop trust fund distribution (6/14)
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