Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., has introduced legislation amending the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, providing the long-anticipated “fix” to the Supreme Court ruling in Carcieri v. Salazar.
In Carcieri, the Supreme Court held that the Secretary of the Interior exceeded his authority by taking land into trust for the Narragansett Tribe, which was not under federal jurisdiction, or recognized, at the time the Indian Reorganization Act was enacted in 1934. Dorgan’s technical amendments to the IRA would reaffirm the Secretary’s authority to take lands into trust for Indian tribes, regardless of when they were recognized. The amendment also ratifies the prior trust acquisitions of the Secretary, who for the past 75 years has been exercising his authority to take lands into trust, as intended by the Indian Reorganization Act. Read more here.
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