Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tribes Lose in Supreme Court

The secretary of the Interior cannot take land into trust for tribes that were not under the jurisdiction of the federal government when the Indian Reorganization Act was enacted in 1934, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today. 

The 6-3 decision is a huge loss for the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island which had hoped to have a 31 acres land to be taken into trust and used for a housing development.  But it is also raises questions about the status of some 250 other tribes that were not recognized by the federal government in 1934. 

The case is Carcieri v. Salazar, 07-526.

2 comments:

  1. Do we really expect the Supremes to treat us any better than the Fed has ever treated us?
    They ARE the Fed,after all. This is just more Conflict of Intrest, yup yup. We will never get Justice at their hands.

    This doesn't surprize us, not really.

    Well, we are still here, and my strong thoughts for my Brothers and Sisters in R.I.

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  2. Unfortunately, this is just another in the long line of progeny from the 1978 Oliphant decision. Until the Supreme Court overturns the precedent that tribes have only sovereignty over areas specified by the government through acts like the IRA (which may never happen), these decisions will continue.

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