Considering Contributions

The Tribal Council of the Yakama Nation has approved the development of a guest-worker program that would require licenses or permits for foreign workers and non-Tribal citizens working on reservation lands. The Yakama Nation’s territory contains much fertile agricultural land that is famred by a significant force of migrant workers during the growing seasons. The…

NativeLegalUpdate.com was the domain name associated with a blog on Native American Issues from a legal perspective. Offered by a major law firm, it ran from 2008 through 2016. After that the law firm restructured, merging with another law firm, and discontinued its blog offerings, now simply providing information on its services. We thought this…

Only days after filing an appeal of the National Labor Relations Board’s ruling ordering it to bargain with the over 2,500 dealers represented by the United Auto Workers, the Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprise (Foxwoods Resort Casino) and the UAW have agreed to enter into discussions regarding a labor agreement under Tribal law. The jurisdictional dispute over whether…

A Coquille Indian Tribe member is challenging a recent decision by the Tribal Council to allow domestic partnerships and marriages regardless of sexual orientation. Tribal member Brady Metcalf said he believes the Marriage and Domestic Partnership Ordinance should be placed on a special tribal ballot, allowing the general council to weigh in on the topic. The general…

In a bid to assert control over law enforcement in their lands, leaders of the White Earth Band of Chippewa are seeking retrocession from Public Law 280 and are writing a new criminal code to replace state law for members of the Band. Crossing three counties in northwest Minnesota, the White Earth Reservation has been…

Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe elder Ted Vaughn is suing the Tribe’s Board of directors over the construction of a new administration building next to the historic home of the founders of the Tribe’s reservation. Vaughn has a personal stake in the issue: the founders, Sam and Viola Jimulla, were his grandparents, and he grew up in the…