AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE TRIBAL JUSTICE CLINIC OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LAW AND POLICY PROGRAM

AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE TRIBAL JUSTICE CLINIC OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LAW AND POLICY P... 

Pala Mentioned In National Law Review

There is a long article out titled:

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community v. Jewell and Other Selected Cases: Indian Nations Law Update August natlawreview.com

Here is an excerpt.   Click the link above if you want to read the whole article.

"In Aguayo v. Jewell, 2016 WL 3648465 (9th Cir. 2016), the Pala Band of Mission Indians (Tribe) amended its constitution in 1997 to authorize its Executive Committee to replace its existing Enrollment Ordinance with an ordinance governing “adoption, loss of membership, disenrollment, and future membership.” The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) approved the constitution in 2000. In 2009, the Executive Committee adopted a new enrollment ordinance giving itself the power to “reevaluate” an applicant based on “misrepresented or omitted facts that might have made him/ her ineligible for enrollment,” and remove such members from the rolls. The ordinance permitted an aggrieved person to appeal to the BIA’s regional director but also provided that the regional director could merely make a recommendation and that the Executive Committee would have ultimate authority over enrollment decisions. The Executive Committee determined that the blood quantum of Margarita Britten, a Pala Indian born in 1856, had incorrectly been listed as “full blood” but should have been listed as half- blood. The committee subsequently disenrolled over 150 of her descendants who could not satisfy the Tribe’s 1/16 blood requirement. Many of them appealed to the BIA regional director, but the regional director, and later the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (AS-IA), determined that BIA’s role was purely advisory under the Tribe’s constitution."

Aguayo v Jewell Petition for Rehearing and Hearing En Banc

Aguayo v Jewell Petition for Rehearing and Hearing En Banc by kupa821 on Scribd

9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling

US News and World Report - Court rules for government in fight over tribal expulsions

By SUDHIN THANAWALA, Associated Press

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The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs not to overrule the Pala Band of Mission Indians' expulsion of more than 150 members. The court said the federal agency reasonably concluded that the San Diego County-based Pala were operating under a tribal constitution that gave the tribe ultimate authority over enrollment decisions.

"In reaching our decision, we recognize with regret that plaintiffs will suffer severe and significant consequences from losing their membership in the Pala Band," Judge Milan Smith wrote for the three-judge panel.

But he went on to say that the federal government does not interfere in tribal enrollment decisions "in the absence of specific authority to do so."

Read More Here-->Court rules for government in fight over tribal expulsions

14-56909 Tiffany Aguayo v. S.M.R. Jewell United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit