Bad News in the Latest UN Report on Climate Change
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) has more bad news for us. Its long range forecast still looks hot, and the IPCC is more confident than ever that humans are largely the cause. On Friday, September 27, the IPCC issued…
Eighth Circuit Holds that Dish Network Must Exhaust Tribal Remedies
In Dish Network Service LLC v. Laducer, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 16097 (8th Cir. 2013), the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it was not “plain” that tribal courts lack jurisdiction over a tribal member’s abuse of process claim and upheld…
Constitution Day 2013 – Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
Each year in September, the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of New Mexico visits classrooms statewide, teaching 5th graders about the importance of the Constitution. Spencer Edelman, a firm associate and member of the Board of YLD, helped to coordinate…
New Mexico Court of Appeals Split Opinion Rules Tribal Sovereign Immunity Does Not Apply in Action to Declare Road Status on Tribal Fee Land
In a 2-1 opinion, the New Mexico Court of Appeals in Hamaatsa, Inc. v. Pueblo of San Felipe, 2013-NMCA- ___, No. 31,297 (July 23, 2013), took a very narrow view of tribal sovereign immunity and concluded equitable considerations of a non-tribal entity’s…
Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Proposed Changes to Fee-to-Trust Procedures
On May 24, 2013, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn issued a proposed rule to modify the process for challenging the Secretary’s decision to take fee lands into trust,[1. Press Release, U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washburn Proposes Changes to…
French Court Allows Auction of Sacred Hopi Artifacts to Proceed
A controversial auction of sacred Hopi artifacts went forward on April 12, 2013, after a Paris municipal court judge ruled that a Paris auction house could hold an action of tribal masks considered sacred by the Hopi and other tribes located in…
IRS Concludes Tribe May Pass on to Lessee Investment Credits Associated with Renewable Energy Asset
The Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) recent non-binding decision that a Tribe could pass on investment credits associated with renewable energy assets to the Tribe’s lessee may encourage future development on tribal lands because the non-tribal developer can benefit from the Tribe’s investment…