Native American

  • March 10, 2025

    Ayahuasca Church Says DEA Violated Religious Use Contract

    A New Mexico-based church whose practice involves a controlled substance has brought a federal lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration, alleging the agency sat on the group's application to export the sacrament to sister churches for close to seven years.

  • March 10, 2025

    Tribe Says BNSF Can't Derail $400M Trespass Judgment

    A Washington tribe is urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court's finding that BNSF Railway Co. must pay nearly $400 million for years of illegally running oil cars across tribal territory, saying the railroad's claim that it strips away lawfully earned profits "makes little sense."

  • March 10, 2025

    Ariz. Power Co. Asks Justices To Review Tax On Tribal Plant

    An energy company asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review Arizona court decisions that said a power plant it owns on tribal land is subject to property taxes, arguing that privately owned improvements located on Native American reservations are exempt from state and local taxes.

  • March 10, 2025

    Tribal Casino Says Sovereign Immunity Sinks 401(k) Fee Suit

    A tribal hospitality and casino company said it shouldn't face a proposed class action alleging its 401(k) plan was bogged down by exorbitant costs and underperforming investment options, telling a New York federal court it's immune from the case as an arm of the Oneida Indian Nation.

  • March 10, 2025

    Public Interest Groups Seek Revamped FCC Subsidy

    Advocates for federal broadband aid urged the Federal Communications Commission to support a revamp of the universal service program to make it work like the now-defunct Affordable Connectivity Program's subsidy for low-income families.

  • March 07, 2025

    Feds Say California Tribes' Casino Challenge Comes Too Late

    The U.S. Department of the Interior and other agencies have asked a D.C. federal judge to deny two tribes' challenge to another tribe's plan to build a casino-hotel complex on 221 acres of trust land, saying their request for a stay is improper and untimely.

  • March 07, 2025

    Hints Of A New High Court Majority Emerge In Trump Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of President Donald Trump's bid to keep frozen nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding gave court watchers a glimpse of a coalition majority that could end up thwarting some of the president's more aggressive and novel attempts to expand executive power.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trump Admin Pressed to Keep Ariz. Indian Affairs Office Open

    A pair of Arizona Democratic senators are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to allow a Phoenix-based Bureau of Indian Affairs office to remain open, saying it must provide clarity on how the decision to close the location was reached.

  • March 07, 2025

    Okla. Gov.'s Brother Can't Use McGirt Ruling to Avoid Ticket

    Keith Stitt, brother of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, can't dodge a speeding ticket on the back of a 2020 landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, a state appeals court panel said, arguing that the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, maintains jurisdiction over the dispute.

  • March 06, 2025

    ND High Court Nixes Greenpeace Transfer Bid In $300M Trial

    The North Dakota Supreme Court has denied Greenpeace's motion to transfer venue in an ongoing $300 million defamation trial by pipeline-builder Energy Transfer out of a district where all local judges earlier recused themselves before the case finally landed in a state judge's court.

  • March 06, 2025

    Wash. Biz Groups Say Water Regs Rule Likely To Be Repealed

    A group of business associations is fighting a bid by Washington state and a slew of Native American tribes to dismiss the associations' challenge to a decision that established water quality standards for the Evergreen State, saying the rule is set to be repealed under the new federal administration.

  • March 06, 2025

    Tribal Water Rights Bills Advance To US Senate Floor

    A slew of tribal water rights settlement bills are heading to the U.S. Senate for review, and, if approved, they will allow for the completion of multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects, sustainable management and the delivery of drinking water to several Indigenous communities.

  • March 06, 2025

    Senate Dems Press Citibank To Thaw Frozen EPA Grant Funds

    A group of Democratic U.S. senators on Thursday urged Citibank to immediately release federal funding that's been frozen as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigates how a climate change grant program was run.

  • March 06, 2025

    Trump Administration Ordered To Release Funds To States

    A Rhode Island judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to stop withholding funds from states, saying an executive order freezing federal grants, loans and other payments approved by Congress "fundamentally undermines" the separation of powers and is causing irreparable harm.

  • March 05, 2025

    DOGE Firings, Agency Cuts Targeted In New Sierra Club Suit

    The Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists were among several groups that lobbed a new suit against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday, slamming the billionaire and DOGE for the "lawless" slashing of funds and federal workers.

  • March 05, 2025

    Army To Disinter 19 Students From Boarding School Cemetery

    The Office of Army Cemeteries says it will honor the requests of three Oklahoma tribes and disinter the remains of 19 Indigenous children from a cemetery at the site of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.

  • March 05, 2025

    Trump EPA Nominees Grilled On Climate Change Views

    President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's air office repeatedly told Democratic senators that humans must adapt to climate change, but declined to wade into policy specifics during a nomination hearing Wednesday.

  • March 05, 2025

    Native Groups Want Equal Footing In Fed. Appellate Courts

    Native American rights' groups are urging a federal appellate judicial rules committee to add federally recognized tribes to a list of entities that do not need a court's approval to file an amicus brief, saying the disparity restricts how and when tribal nations gain a voice in lawsuits that impact them.

  • March 05, 2025

    CashCall Wants 9th Circ. Redo Of Order To Pay CFPB $134M

    CashCall Inc. has asked for a rehearing of its Ninth Circuit loss that kept it on the hook for a $134 million restitution payment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, arguing that when the online lender was fined in 2016, CashCall could not relinquish its "known right" to a jury trial because the right did not exist at the time.

  • March 04, 2025

    Dems Demand Halt To Trump Admin's Tribal Program Cuts

    More than 100 Democratic lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to halt any executive orders that hurt programs and services in Indian Country, saying in a letter to the White House that the U.S. government must honor its trust and treaty obligations to tribes.

  • March 04, 2025

    Minn. County Officials Claim Bias In DOI's Land Trust Decision

    A trio of Minnesota municipalities are asking a federal court for a quick win in a dispute over more than 3,000 acres taken into trust for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, arguing that the decisions are the product of an unconstitutionally biased process.

  • March 04, 2025

    Judge Stays Osage Wind Farm Order, Requires $10M Bond

    An Oklahoma federal judge stayed a $4.2 million judgment and order requiring an energy company to remove 84 wind turbines from the Osage Nation's reservation pending the outcome of a Tenth Circuit appeal, ordering the company to pay a $10 million bond in the interim.

  • March 04, 2025

    Calif. PBM Opioid Suit Belongs In Federal Court, 9th Circ. Told

    Pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts Inc. and OptumRx Inc. urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to require California to litigate its public nuisance claims over their opioid dispensing practices in federal court, arguing that allowing the state to litigate in state court would create a circuit split.

  • March 04, 2025

    2nd Circ. Mulls Blackmail Case's Effect On Fraud Conviction

    Second Circuit judges looked tempted Tuesday to let Scott Tucker, who is incarcerated on charges that he ran a $2 billion payday lending scam, file a new appeal — after hearing that Tucker's trial counsel faced blackmail from an unrelated client during Tucker's $2 billion fraud trial.

  • March 04, 2025

    Holland & Hart Adds Alaska US Rep And Her Chief Of Staff

    Holland & Hart LLP has expanded its federal affairs group with Alaska's former U.S. representative, who is joining the team in Anchorage alongside her prior chief of staff, the firm announced Monday.

Expert Analysis

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

  • How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

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    During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.

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