{"id":30597,"date":"2023-01-24T17:04:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T22:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=30597"},"modified":"2023-01-24T17:08:03","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T22:08:03","slug":"u-s-supreme-court-adds-more-indian-country-cases-to-docket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2023\/01\/24\/u-s-supreme-court-adds-more-indian-country-cases-to-docket\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Supreme Court adds more Indian Country cases to docket"},"content":{"rendered":" \"U.S.<\/a>
A crowd gathers in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in an Indian Child Welfare Act case on November 9, 2022. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
U.S. Supreme Court adds more Indian Country cases to docket<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, January 24, 2023<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. — Indian Country is gearing up for another round of big cases at the nation’s highest court.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> already heard one Indian law case this term and it was a major one<\/a>. Arguments took place last November in Haaland v. Brackeen<\/em><\/a>, a closely-watched dispute that will determine whether tribes can continue to protect their children through the Indian Child Welfare Act<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nTwo more significant matters have since been added to the docket. On November 4, the justices agreed to decide Department of the Interior v. Navajo Nation<\/em><\/a>, another snigificant case that impacts the federal government’s trust and treaty obligation to provide water to tribal nations.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThen on January 14, the Supreme Court added Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin<\/em><\/a> to its calendar. The outcome will determine whether tribal sovereignty has been abrogated by federal bankruptcy law, an issue that has never been decided by the justices.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nOral arguments in Navajo Nation<\/em> and Lac du Flambeau Band<\/em> have yet to be scheduled. But just like Brackeen<\/em>, tribes and their advocates are paying close attention to the highest court in the land.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“With many high-profile cases on the Court\u2019s docket, court-watchers anticipate that this will be another significant Supreme Court term,” the Native American Rights Fund<\/a>, the largest Native-run legal organization, said in highlighting the three cases in its most recent update<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"Bryan<\/a>

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland take part in a “Road to Healing” event on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation on January 21, 2023. Photo: U.S. Department of the Interior<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

Department of the Interior v. Navajo Nation<\/em><\/div>\r\nDespite being promised water through treaties, laws, executive orders and other federal actions, tribes along the Colorado River<\/a> were infamously left out of a multi-state compact that was signed in 1922<\/a>. To this day, the agreement governs how water is divided among seven Western states<\/a> where some of the largest reservations are located.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMore than a century later, the exclusion continues to haunt the Navajo Nation<\/a>, whose reservation spans three of the states covered by the 1922 Colorado River Compact<\/a>. The inequity was highlighted in an April 28, 2021, decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a>, which tied the federal government’s failure to live up to its trust and treaty obligations to the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“Many homes on the reservation lack running water, making it difficult for tribal members to wash their hands regularly,” Judge Ronald M. Gould wrote for the court.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“The Nation has as a result been particularly affected by the current pandemic, with a death rate higher than that of many other parts of the country,” Gould continued.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe decision was a historic one for the Navajo Nation, opening the door for the tribe to hold the U.S. government accountable for bringing water to reservation residents in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The 9th Circuit couldn’t have been more clear, in fact.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“Federal Appellees have an irreversible and dramatically important trust duty requiring them to ensure adequate water for the health and safety of the Navajo Nation\u2019s inhabitants in their permanent home reservation,” the decision said of the obligations owed to the tribe by the Department of the Interior<\/a>, the Bureau of Reclamation<\/a> and the Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

\r\n