Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing Authority Cert Petition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Marceau Cert Petition

Questions presented:

1) Whether the Ninth Circuit misconstrued and misunderstood requirements for finding a Federal Trust Responsibility to Indians. Is the pervasive role of the federal government based on the administration of the law as well as the letter of the law?
2) Is there a conflict in the Circuits on this issue? Compare Brown v. United States, 86 F.3d 1554, 1560-61 (Fed. Cir. 1996) and other cases in the Federal Circuit with the decision of the Ninth Circuit in this case below (Marceau III, 540 F.3d 916, 928 (9th Cir. 2008).
3) Is there a special burden on the federal government as it relates to Indian Housing in view of the Congressional Acts on Housing, the disadvantage to Indians caused by the Indian Allotment Act which prohibits Indians from holding title to their land, and the Indian Trust Responsibility of the federal government?
4) Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in summarily dismissing Plaintiffs’ APA claim as time barred when the true state of affairs was not discovered until well within the statute of limitations? Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in not considering the federal Indian Trust Responsibility in connection with this decision?
5) Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in holding that HUD had no duty to act on a specific request of the Housing Authority and the Blackfeet Tribe to “fix it?” Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in not considering the federal Indian Trust Responsibility in connection with this decision.
Lower court materials here.
The Supreme Court denied cert in an earlier stage of this litigation here.