It pays to get organized. As you may know, MSU and TICA will be hosting the first Indian law conference (that I know) dedicated exclusively to issues involving in-house counsel for Indian nations. There’s still time to join TICA and answer the call for papers!
Runner Up
Tribal sovereign immunity — a huge winner in 2014, with the Supreme Court reaffirming its commitment to tribal immunity and to Congress’s prerogative when it comes to abrogating that immunity instead of the Supreme Court.
Final Four
Alaska Native tribes had a wild, up and down (mostly up) year. Justice Sotomayor continued her run of writing scholarly opinions in Supreme Court cases that articulated theories of Indian law rarely generated by Supreme Court Justices.
Fourth Round
Bay Mills Indian Community won a surprising Supreme Court victory — that victory could be said to be represented by three of the final eight (along with immunity and Justice Sotomayor). ICWA‘s omnipresence in terms of sheer number of cases, along with AG Holder’s statement of commitment to the enforcement of the statute, was a big deal this year. Judge Diane Humetewa became the first American Indian woman to sit as a federal judge. And crowd favorite 1491s advocacy against the Washington Football Team’s nickname raised their profile considerably.
Third Round
VAWA‘s tribal jurisdiction provisions being successfully implemented at the pilot project tribes, most notably Pascua Yaqui, and with Congress removing the Alaska exclusion, made the statute go fairly deep into the tournament. 2015 promises to be a much bigger year for VAWA. It was a pretty bad year for intra-tribal disputes, what with Chukchansi’s casino shutdown and armed unrest headlining all over. The Gun Lake Tribe‘s success in Congress, the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin‘s success in the Supreme Court, and the Carcieri challengers‘ ongoing federal court efforts, all registered big this year. Two books made it this far, Structuring Sovereignty and the Cohen Handbook. But perhaps the biggest individual winner was Sarah Deer and her much-deserved award.
Second Round
Omaha Tribe, Cayuga Nation, Sault Tribe, and Lac Courte Oreilles all won important federal appellate victories. Indian country voting rights, Indian gaming, gray wolves, and tribal court exhaustion all had big litigation years. American Indian education, Bill Wood, Kevin Washburn, Frank Pommersheim, Keith Harper, Cobell settlement beneficiaries, the Supreme Court Project, and Adoptive Couple law reviews all burned out early.
First Round
Full of sound and fury but signifying nothing. Made the tournament field, and that means something, but that’s all: Tribal Law and Policy Institute, Native American Bar Association, Bay Mills law review articles, tribal sovereign (payday) lenders, Buena Vista Rancheria, Kialegee Tribal Town, Big Lagoon Rancheria, MHA Nation, Fond du Lac, Wind River, Cowlitz, Navajo, preemption, Rule 19, internet gaming, human trafficking, alternative energy, climate change, Indian criminal sentencing, Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act, Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee, Dollar General, Neal Katyal, Eric Holder, McAllen Grace Brethren Church, Judge Canby, Chris Deschene, Rob Williams, Borough of Jim Thorpe, Indian country pot growers, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and the State of New Mexico.
Turtle Talk 