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Native American
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April 17, 2024
Feds, Tribe Say Settlement Talks Failed In Water Pipeline Row
The Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked a New York federal court to opt out of mediation talks after the tribe said the agency refused its settlement offer in litigation challenging a right-of-way permit for a wastewater pipeline.
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April 16, 2024
Tribal Groups Want Full 9th Circ. To Rehear Oak Flat Appeal
An Apache nonprofit is asking the Ninth Circuit's entire 29-judge panel to review its lawsuit that seeks to block a copper mining company from destroying a sacred Indigenous religious site, arguing that an en banc hearing is warranted given the appellate court's latest split decision on the land transfer.
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April 16, 2024
Wis. Bank Must Face Bias Claims In Tribal Peyote Case
A Wisconsin federal judge ruled Tuesday that a local bank cannot avoid discrimination claims in a suit that accuses it of denying service to Indigenous company Medicine Fireplace, whose members use the psychoactive peyote plant in their religious ceremonies.
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April 16, 2024
Broadband Subsidy Backers Seek To Force House Vote
Nearly 300 groups urged Congress to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program, but as a bill to do so picked up support from more than half of U.S. House lawmakers, a vote on replenishing the fund remains up in the air.
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April 16, 2024
Tribes, Lawmakers Call On Biden To Protect Historic Sites
A coalition of Native American tribal communities and federal lawmakers on Tuesday delivered a petition containing more than 800,000 signatures calling on the Biden administration to protect, expand and designate a slew of national monuments and sacred lands under the Antiquities Act.
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April 15, 2024
Enviro Groups Urge 9th Circ. To Uphold Ax Of DOI Land Swap
Environmental groups and the National Congress of American Indians have thrown their support behind the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in calling on the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court ruling that the federal government's land exchange with agribusiness J.R. Simplot Co. was unlawful.
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April 15, 2024
Biden Approves Disaster Declarations For States, Tribe
The states of Oregon and California, along with one of their tribal communities, will receive federal emergency aid to help recover from severe winter storms that caused widespread damage and killed several people in January and February.
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April 15, 2024
9th Circ. Says Court Must Consider Pay In Navajo Benefits Bid
The Ninth Circuit has vacated a ruling that a Navajo Nation member failed to prove he was wrongfully denied relocation benefits after the U.S. gave his ancestral lands to the Hopi Tribe, with a split panel remanding the case to federal district court with instructions to consider evidence of his income.
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April 15, 2024
High Court Won't Hear California Tribal Casino Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a bid by an anti-casino advocacy group seeking to overturn a Ninth Circuit decision that dismissed their case after determining that the Ione Band of Miwok Indians is eligible to go forward with its project in California.
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April 12, 2024
DEA Unlawfully Pushing Psychedelics Ban, Researcher Says
A psychedelic research company has asked a Washington federal judge to block the Drug Enforcement Administration from proceeding with its plan to ban two psychedelic substances, saying the agency's process for bringing the matter before an administrative judge has been unlawful.
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April 12, 2024
DOI Sews Up Overhaul Of Oil Leasing Regs And Rates
The U.S. Department of the Interior on Friday finalized its overhaul of decades-old onshore oil and gas leasing regulations and rates with an eye on guiding oil and gas drilling toward already developed public lands.
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April 12, 2024
5th Circ. Won't Block Park Plan Over Religious Concerns
The Fifth Circuit has upheld a lower court's decision ordering the city of San Antonio to allow Native American church members access to a park under renovation for religious ceremonies but declined to enjoin the city's planned tree removal and bird deterrence program.
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April 12, 2024
Tribes Look To Overturn Enbridge's Line 5 Mich. Tunnel Permit
Several tribal nations are asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn and remand a state commission's permit approval that allows Enbridge Energy to build a Line 5 pipeline tunnel project beneath the Straits of Mackinac, arguing that they and others were barred from introducing evidence relevant to the final decision.
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April 12, 2024
Florida Loses Bid To Retain Control Of CWA Permit Program
A D.C. federal judge on Friday rejected Florida's bid to retain some control over a Clean Water Act permitting program that he recently found was improperly handed off to the state by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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April 11, 2024
ND Tribe Banishes SD Gov. After Racially Charged Remarks
A North Dakota tribe has joined two South Dakota Lakota nations in voting to banish South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem from their reservation lands after accusing her of making racially charged public comments about drug cartels allegedly operating on reservations in the state and about Native American parents.
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April 11, 2024
FDA Commissioner Says Congress Must Act On Hemp, CBD
The commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that the agency did not consider hemp-derived CBD safe enough to be sold lawfully as a dietary supplement, and urged Congress to create a new pathway to regulate the substance.
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April 11, 2024
Interior Dept. Finalizes Rule To Strengthen Endangered Species Act
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday announced a final rule it said is intended to increase participation in its voluntary conservation programs, but environmentalists slammed it as "a huge missed opportunity" to improve conditions for wildlife.
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April 11, 2024
DOI Lowers Fees For Solar, Wind Projects On Public Lands
The U.S. Department of the Interior unveiled finalized updates to its renewable energy regulations on Thursday that are aimed at promoting the development of solar and wind energy on public lands by lowering the associated fees.
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April 11, 2024
Alaska Native Village Defends Donlin Gold Mine Approvals
Alaska's Native Village of Crooked Creek threw its support behind the federal government in litigation brought by half a dozen tribes challenging its approvals for a massive open-pit gold mine along the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska, saying the project will bring meaningful improvements to Crooked Creek.
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April 11, 2024
Judge Won't Rethink Ax Of Tribes 'Cultural Resource' Claims
A Washington federal judge has refused to rethink his dismissal of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation's claims for "tribal service losses" stemming from a smelter's Columbia River pollution, saying the tribes did not meet the standard required for reconsideration.
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April 11, 2024
US Sends Mixed Messages In Enbridge Line 5 Pipeline Dispute
The U.S. government sent mixed messages to the Seventh Circuit in weighing in on Enbridge's controversial Line 5 oil pipeline, saying a lower court was right to determine that the company is trespassing on tribal lands, but recommended that the case be remanded and that a tribe's public nuisance claim be dismissed.
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April 10, 2024
Tribes Sue Social Platforms Over Native Youth Suicides
Two Native American tribes are suing social media giants, accusing them of relentlessly pursuing a strategy of "growth-at-all-costs" that has contributed to the disproportionately high rates of mental health crisis and suicide affecting Indigenous youth that is devastating Indian Country.
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April 10, 2024
Lawmakers Ask GAO To Review Native Remains Act
Two Democratic members of the U.S. House have urged the Government Accountability Office to conduct a thorough review of how the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is implemented, saying tribes have complained of deficiencies in the return of their ancestral remains and cultural objects.
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April 10, 2024
Wash. Tribe Says $1M Fine Not Enough To Settle CWA Claims
A Washington tribe is opposing a proposed consent decree that would settle Clean Water Act claims against a hydroelectric dam operator, arguing that a $1 million penalty is vastly too low for violations of the law when the damage continues.
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April 10, 2024
FCC Urged To Wait For BEAD Fund Awards Before 5G Auction
Small, independent cable providers want the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on a rural 5G development auction until the U.S. Department of Commerce completes its massive award of high-speed internet build-out funds.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Water Infrastructure Crisis Requires Private Investment
The federal government is in the process of distributing billions of dollars recently allocated for upgrades to U.S. water infrastructure — but capital, beyond what government can provide, is needed to fully address decades of neglect, meaning that private investment must be a part of the solution, says Damian Georgino at Womble Bond.
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Rebuttal
Law Needs A Balance Between Humanism And Formalism
A recent Law360 guest article rightly questions the pretextual pseudo-originalism that permits ideology to masquerade as judicial philosophy, but the cure would kill the patient because directness, simplicity and humanness are achievable without renouncing form or sacrificing stare decisis, says Vanessa Kubota at the Arizona Court of Appeals.
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Short Message Data Challenges In E-Discovery
As short message platforms increasingly dominate work environments, lawyers face multiple programs, different communication styles and emoji in e-discovery, so they must consider new strategies to adapt their processes, says Cristin Traylor at Relativity.
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Opinion
Thomas Report Is Final Straw — High Court Needs Ethics Code
As a recent report on Justice Clarence Thomas' ongoing conflicts of interest makes evident, Supreme Court justices should be subject to an enforceable and binding code of ethics — like all other federal judges — to maintain the credibility of the institution, says Erica Salmon Byrne at Ethisphere.
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Joint Representation Ethics Lessons From Ga. Electors Case
The Fulton County district attorney's recent motion to disqualify an attorney from representing her elector clients, claiming a nonconsentable conflict of interest, raises key questions about representing multiple clients related to the same conduct and highlights potential pitfalls, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Grace Wynn at HWG.
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Lawyer Discernment Is Critical In The World Of AI
In light of growing practical concerns about risks and challenges posed by artificial intelligence, lawyers' experience with the skill of discernment will position them to help address new ethical and moral dilemmas and ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a way that benefits society as a whole, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
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Opinion
It's Time For Lawyers To Stand Up For Climate Justice
The anniversary this week of the Deepwater Horizon disaster offers an opportunity for attorneys to embrace the practice of just transition lawyering — leveraging our skills to support communities on the front lines of climate change and environmental catastrophe as they pursue rebuilding and transformation, says Amy Laura Cahn at Taproot Earth.
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Don't Forget Alumni Engagement When Merging Law Firms
Neglecting law firm alumni programs after a merger can sever the deep connections attorneys have with their former firms, but by combining good data management and creating new opportunities to reconnect, firms can make every member in their expanded network of colleagues feel valued, say Clare Roath and Erin Warner at Troutman Pepper.
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Without Stronger Due Diligence, Attys Risk AML Regulation
Amid increasing pressure to mitigate money laundering and terrorism financing risks in gatekeeper professions, the legal industry will need to clarify and strengthen existing client due diligence measures — or risk the federal regulation attorneys have long sought to avoid, says Jeremy Glicksman at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
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Every Lawyer Can Act To Prevent Peer Suicide
Members of the legal industry can help prevent suicide among their colleagues, and better protect their own mental health, by learning the predictors and symptoms of depression among attorneys and knowing when and how to get practical aid to peers in crisis, says Joan Bibelhausen at Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
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Building On Successful Judicial Assignment Reform In Texas
Prompt action by the Judicial Conference could curtail judge shopping and improve the efficiency and procedural fairness of the federal courts by implementing random districtwide assignment of cases, which has recently proven successful in Texas patent litigation, says Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper.
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Do Videoconferences Establish Jurisdiction With Defendants?
What it means to have minimum contacts in a foreign jurisdiction is changing as people become more accustomed to meeting via video, and defendants’ participation in videoconferencing may be used as a sword or a shield in courts’ personal jurisdiction analysis, says Patrick Hickey at Moye White.
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Opinion
Humanism Should Replace Formalism In The Courts
The worrying tendency for judges to say "it's just the law talking, not me" in American decision writing has coincided with an historic decline in respect for the courts, but this trend can be reversed if courts develop understandable legal standards and justify them in human terms, says Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.
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Buy America Guidance Still Unclear On Treaty Obligations
Both initial and proposed guidance on implementation of the Build America, Buy America Act failed to address potential conflicts with international treaty commitments, which means federal agencies and states may implement Buy America procurement policies in a manner that violates U.S. trade obligations, say attorneys at Akin.
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Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy
As clients increasingly impose requirements for attorney hiring and retention related to diversity and secondment, law firms must remember their ethical duties, as well as broader issues of lawyer development, culture and firm integrity, to maintain their independence while meaningfully responding to social changes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.