(Native American Rights Fund)
Tribal Supreme Court Project
(Tracy Labin)
Following the recent Supreme Court defeats in Nevada v. Hicks and Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley, the Native American Rights Fund and the National Congress of American Indians have jointly established the Tribal Supreme Court Project. Modeled after a successful state project, the Tribal Supreme Court Project is intended to foster greater coordination among tribes in their Supreme Court advocacy, and ultimately to improve the win-loss record of tribes before the Court. The Project is housed at NARF and due to funding limitations, is currently run by one NARF attorney only. An ever-growing working group of over 140 Indian law attorneys and an Advisory Board made up of several prominent tribal leaders are also dedicating time and energy to make this Project work.
Among other things, the Project monitors Indian cases in the state and federal appellate courts that have the potential to reach the Supreme Court; assists tribes in determining whether to seek Supreme Court review of a particular case; fosters discussions among attorneys nation-wide about pending Indian law issues; and provides other services to tribes with cases before the Court, the most noteworthy of which is coordinating and writing amicus briefs in support of the tribes. The Project is currently coordinating amicus briefs in two important cases to be argued before the Supreme Court next term: United States v. Navajo Nation and United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe. These cases raise critical issues regarding whether the United States may be held liable in damages for mismanagement of tribal trust resources.
Through the Tribal Supreme Court Project, NARF hopes to mobilize the best minds in Indian law, to present the best arguments in cases before the Supreme Court, and to prevent those cases posing a threat of creating bad law from reaching the Supreme Court.