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Mealey's Native American Law

  • March 03, 2025

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment On Tribe’s Challenge To Federal Tobacco Rules

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a motion for summary judgment filed by U.S. government agencies and officials including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), finding they did not act improperly by deeming a Native American tribe-owned tobacco business out of compliance with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act based on its allegedly untaxed sales to nontribal members.

  • February 27, 2025

    Judge: Expert In Criminal Case Can Opine On Tactics Used During Police Interview

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An expert may testify on “the 81 interrogation tactics” that a man charged with second-degree murder encountered “before ultimately making inculpatory statements,” a New Mexico federal judge said Feb. 26 in rejecting the federal government’s motion to exclude.

  • February 26, 2025

    New Administration Delays Cases Challenging CWA Permit Vetoes For Alaska Mine

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska will hold in abeyance for 90 days three consolidated cases challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s veto of Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permits needed to develop a large southwestern Alaska copper and mine deposit as the new leadership of the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers learn about the cases.

  • February 24, 2025

    Insurers Ask Supreme Court To Decide Whether Tribal Court Can Exercise Jurisdiction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — After the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied insurers’ petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc asking it to reconsider its opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land, the insurers filed a petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine “whether a tribal court can exercise jurisdiction over nonmembers of the tribe based on off-reservation conduct.”

  • January 10, 2025

    High Court Distributes Tribe’s Tobacco Rule Challenge After State Waives Response

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court distributed a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by two subsidiaries of Winnebago Tribe-owned tobacco company seeking review of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding Nebraska’s right to enforce Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) regulations over its tobacco sales to tribal nonmembers after the state waived its right to respond.

  • December 23, 2024

    Tribe Seeks High Court Review Of Nebraska Tobacco Sales Regulations

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two subsidiaries of a Winnebago Tribe-owned company urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding Nebraska’s right to enforce Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) regulations over its tobacco sales to tribal nonmembers, arguing that the ruling conflicts with high court precedent and “strikes at the heart of tribal sovereignty.”

  • December 10, 2024

    Panel: Reservation Court Has Jurisdiction In Tribe’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over an insurance company in a dispute over the tribe’s claims for business interruption losses at its casino caused by the coronavirus pandemic, affirming a lower federal court on the alterative ground that the insurance policy at issue satisfies Montana’s consensual-relationship exception.

  • December 04, 2024

    North Dakota Refutes Tribes’ Claim To Mineral Rights In Missouri Riverbed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The state of North Dakota has filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that there is “no clear evidence” of congressional intent to confer Native American tribes with ownership of the disputed Missouri Riverbed and underlying mineral interests, and it says the lack of evidence “becomes even more clear when the relevant treaties, documents, and relationships are understood in their historical context.”

  • November 08, 2024

    Biden Administration Opposes Bid To Stay Alaska Coastal Plain Fracking Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Biden administration on Nov. 7 filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opposing a motion by drilling proponents in a long-running, complex dispute over hydraulic fracturing in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska who want to hold their own appeal in abeyance.  The administration argues that “it makes little sense to hold this appeal in abeyance when its resolution may help resolve issues that could arise in subsequent litigation.”

  • November 04, 2024

    U.S. High Court Won’t Review Tribe’s NPDES New Source Permit Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari the San Carlos Apache Tribe filed asking for review of an Arizona Supreme Court decision that a copper mine shaft constructed in 2014 does not require a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

  • October 18, 2024

    Ariz., Others Waive Responses To High Court Petition Over NPDES Permit Decision

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arizona and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), along with Resolution Copper Mining LLC, waived their rights to respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari in which the San Carlos Apache Tribe asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review an Arizona Supreme Court decision that a copper mine shaft constructed in 2014 does not require a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

  • October 02, 2024

    Governments, Fracking Operator Reach $15.5M Deal Resolving Toxic Emissions Lawsuit

    SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it reached a settlement valued at $15.5 million to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at oil and gas production facilities of a fracking operator on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.

  • September 30, 2024

    E-Cig MDL Plaintiffs Seek Fees After Altria Settles Tribal Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — The last remaining claims in a California federal court multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI), tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries have been settled, according to a Sept. 27 filing by the plaintiffs’ fee committee asking the court to approve fees and costs of roughly $1.2 million in connection with the settlement of Indian tribes’ claims against Altria.

  • September 17, 2024

    9th Circuit Denies Insurers’ Petition For Rehearing In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    SEATTLE —The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 16 denied insurers’ petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc asking it to reconsider its Feb. 29 opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land, but with a dissenting judge saying that “this case cried out for rehearing en banc.”

  • August 09, 2024

    North Dakota Says It Owns Long-Disputed Mineral Rights In Missouri Riverbed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — North Dakota, which is an intervenor defendant in a mineral rights dispute between Native American tribes and the U.S. government, has filed an answer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking it to declare that title to the disputed Missouri Riverbed and underlying mineral interests is quieted in favor of the state.

  • August 06, 2024

    Tribe’s Internal Tobacco Sales Exempt From MSA Enforcement, 8th Circuit Rules

    ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed in part a Nebraska federal judge’s ruling enjoining the state from enforcing Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) regulations on tobacco sales by two subsidiaries of a Winnebago Tribe-owned company as to tribal member-to-member sales, but said the state can regulate sales to nonmembers.

  • July 29, 2024

    Tribe Defends PACT Act Challenge From DOJ’s Bid For Summary Judgment

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Native American tribe’s on July 26 filed its opposition in California federal court to a motion for summary judgment filed by U.S. government agencies and officials, arguing that disputes of fact exist regarding the tribes’ claims that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives improperly seeks to deem the tribe out of compliance with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act.

  • July 25, 2024

    Utah: National Monuments Case Should Be Reopened Or Else State Will Suffer Harm

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The state of Utah has filed a reply brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that it should reopen a lawsuit that has been stayed for three years pertaining to former President Donald J. Trump’s decision to reduce the size of two national monuments in the state, in part for hydraulic fracturing purposes, because if the stay remains in place, the state will suffer harm.

  • July 15, 2024

    Marathon Will Pay ‘Largest Ever’ Civil Penalty For Stationary CAA Violations

    BISMARCK, N.D. — Under the terms of a proposed consent decree filed by the United States in North Dakota federal court, Marathon Oil Co. has agreed to pay a $64.5 million civil penalty to resolve alleged Clean Air Act (CAA) violations arising from its oil and natural gas operations within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

  • July 15, 2024

    California High Court Dismisses Tribe’s Appeal In Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court dismissed an Indian tribe insured’s appeal of a state appellate court’s finding that the insured and its experts failed to present sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the coronavirus caused property damage to the tribe’s casino and resort.

  • July 10, 2024

    Tribes Can Appeal Issue Of CERCLA Cultural Resource Damages To 9th Circuit

    SPOKANE, Wash. — A substantial ground for difference of opinion exists on whether the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are entitled to cultural resource damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act caused by a smelter’s alleged disposal of millions of tons of toxic slag and liquid effluent into the Columbia River, a Washington federal judge found July 9 in granting the tribes’ motion for interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • July 09, 2024

    First Nations’ Cigarette Maker Asks To Stay Challenge To Oregon ‘Equity’ Law

    EUGENE, Ore. — A Canadian First Nations-owned cigarette manufacturer and Oregon on July 8 filed a joint motion in Oregon federal court to stay the manufacturer’s lawsuit over the state’s new payment requirement based on cigarette sales pending the outcome of an appeal of a parallel state court ruling that the requirement violates the state Constitution.

  • July 09, 2024

    Arizona Supreme Court Says New Mine Shaft Does Not Need New NPDES Permit

    PHOENIX — A copper mine shaft constructed in 2014 does not require a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit because it is integrated into previous elements of an existing mine and is not considered a “new source” under the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Arizona Supreme Court found in partially vacating a state appellate court’s judgment.

  • July 03, 2024

    Tribes’ Privilege Question Goes Unanswered As High Court Deems Suit Moot

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appeal over the scope of the legislative privilege by two Native American tribes was mooted by a trial court ruling in the underlying voter redistricting dispute, the U.S. Supreme Court held in its July 2 order list, in which it granted the tribes’ request to vacate an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandamus petition related to two discovery orders.

  • June 28, 2024

    High Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Changes Standard For Regulatory Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 voted 6-3 to overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference as incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations, changing governing precedent for federal courts reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions.