Ninth Circuit Briefs in U.S. v. Bearcomesout — Federal Defenders Seek End of the Dual Sovereignty Exception for Indian Tribes

Here are the briefs in United States v. Bearcomesout:

Opening Brief

Answer Brief

Reply

An excerpt from the opening brief:

Because the Northern Cheyenne Constitution cedes almost unfettered authority to the federal government, Ms. Bearcomesout’s prior conviction in Tribal Court bars subsequent federal prosecution in U.S. District Court as a violation of the Double Jeopardy clause. What is more, the frequency of litigation attacking identical and successive prosecutions says something about the inherent unfairness and counter intuitive legal analysis imposed on what seems to be a simple constitutional prohibition. Perhaps it is time to eschew the ‘separate sovereign’ concept altogether; because the harm it is intended to proscribe is hardly served by current separate sovereigns doctrine. See Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle, 579 U.S ___, 136 S.Ct. 1863, 1877 (2016) (Ginsberg, J., concurring).

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