Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation sued Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in federal court, claiming he cut funding for the nation’s Judicial Branch from $17 million each calendar year from 2014 to 2018 to less than $1.5 million this year.
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Barr Announces Plan to Address Crisis of Murdered & Missing Native Americans
U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced a Department of Justice program Friday that will help investigate cases of missing and murdered indigenous people in America.
Read moreTop NY Court Won’t Weigh in on Tribe Leadership Fight
New York’s highest court ruled Tuesday that it lacks jurisdiction to resolve the Cayuga Nation’s long-running internal tribal leadership dispute.
Read moreAlaska Natives Kick Off Annual Convention With Protest
The largest representative annual gathering in the United States of any native peoples, the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, began Thursday with the theme of its 53rd year “Good Government, Alaska Driven.”
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Finland Agrees to Return Native American Remains to Tribes
The ancestral remains of Native American tribes that once called the cliffs of Mesa Verde National Park home will be repatriated as part of an agreement between Finland and the United States.
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Ninth Circuit Voids Geothermal Leases on Sacred Tribal Land
In a decision hailed by some as a victory for tribal rights and ecological preservation, the Ninth Circuit on Thursday upheld voiding 40-year lease extensions for geothermal energy production on 26 plots of California land deemed sacred by Native Americans.
Read more10th Circuit Sides With Tribe in Land Fight With Cherokee Nation
The formerly landless United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma may finally have a plot to call home, after a 10th Circuit panel lifted an injunction Thursday to allow the Bureau of Indian Affairs to divvy up a piece of Cherokee Nation land.
Read moreTribe Can’t Sue for Members Who Claim Racial Profiling in Traffic Tickets
Individual members of a Southern California tribe – not the tribe itself – can sue San Bernardino County over traffic tickets handed on the reservation, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Monday.
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Warren Vows Focus on Native Peoples at Forum
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was greeted with a standing ovation Monday as she addressed controversy over her past ancestry claims at a presidential forum about issues facing Native Americans, and was lauded for her advocacy by several tribal leaders who shared the stage with her.
Read moreWarren Proposes Policy Overhaul to Support Native Peoples
Ahead of a forum Monday focused on issues facing Native American communities, 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren promised structural reform to government programs to address the many issues facing Native Americans.
Read moreFCC Walloped for Nixing Construction Reviews on 5G Facilities
Siding with a group of Native American tribes, the D.C. Circuit reinstated environmental and historical review requirements Friday for the construction of new 5G wireless facilities.
Read moreMGM Accuses Feds of Giving Casino Monopoly to Tribes
Casino giant MGM filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday claiming that two Native American tribes got an effective monopoly on gambling in Connecticut through a new deal with the government.
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10th Circuit Upholds New Districts in Navajo Voting Rights Case
The 10th Circuit Tuesday approved new school board and county commission election districts for Utah’s geographically largest county, finding that a lower court properly sided with the Navajo Nation, which claimed that the old districts were unconstitutional.
Read moreSupremes Shelve Tribal-Recognition Spat Spurred by Oklahoma Murder
Closing out the term with one case still undecided, the Supreme Court said Thursday it will hold new arguments on a death-row inmate’s bid to legally reclassify a large swath of eastern Oklahoma as a Native American reservation.
Read moreTribal Advocates Urge Passage of Anti-Violence Bills
Native American advocates told lawmakers on a Senate panel Wednesday that tribal police should have jurisdiction over violent cases committed by non-Natives on tribal land and the federal government should improve databases tracking such crimes.
Read moreArizona Tribes Seek to Block Work on Planned Copper Mine
Three Native American tribes have called for a halt to preliminary work on a planned copper mine in southern Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains.
Read moreHouse Votes to Restore Land of ‘First Thanksgiving’ Tribe
A bill to restore ownership of tribal land to the Mashpee Wampanoag after the Trump administration took away their Massachusetts reservation passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, though what will happen in the Senate is anyone’s guess.
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