Patterson Earnhart Real Bird & Wilson LLP Announces New Equity Partner
National Native American law firm, Patterson Earnhart Real Bird & Wilson LLP is proud to announce the addition of a new Equity Partner: Jeff Rasmussen. Long-time partner Jeff has been with Native Law Group since its inception, and he has showcased his unwavering...
Native Law Group Participates in Cheyenne River Youth Project Christmas Toy Drive
Attorneys and staff at Native Law Group were honored to be able to participate in the Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) Wo Otúh’an Wi Toy Drive. CRYP has been bringing holiday joy to over 1,000 youth on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation with their Wo Otúh’an Wi...
New NAGPRA Rule To Streamline Return of Ancestral Remains & Cultural Objects
On December 6, 2023, as a part of the White House Tribal Nations Summit, the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior) announced a Final Rule (rule) which updates regulations for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). NAGPRA was enacted...
Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations Restores Almost 3 Million Acres
On December 4, 2023, the Department of the Interior announced the conclusion of the Land Buy-Back Program (“Program”) for Tribal Nations. The Program was established in December 2012 as a part of the Cobell v. Salazar Settlement Agreement, which provided a $1.9...
Bureau of Indian Affairs Finalizes New Fee-to-Trust Regulations
On December 12, 2023, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) finalized new regulations for taking fee lands into trust. The Fee-to-Trust regulations implement a provision in the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) that allows the Secretary of the Interior to take lands...
President Biden Hosts White House Tribal Nations Summit
On December 6th and 7th, 2023, President Joe Biden held his administration’s third annual White House Tribal Nations Summit in Washington, D.C. The Summit was attended by hundreds of Tribal leaders from across the United States. President Biden addressed Tribal...
Arizona State Court Refuses to Expand Holding in Strate v. A-1 Contractors
On October 5, 2023, the Arizona Court of Appeals issued a decision upholding tribal jurisdiction and refusing to expand U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Strate v. A-1 Contractors, 520 U.S. 438 (1997). In Strate, the Supreme Court ruled that a tribal court lacked civil...
Senators Introduce Indian Buffalo Management Act
On September 22, 2023, Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), introduced S. 2908, the Indian Buffalo Management Act. The bill would establish a permanent program within the Department of the Interior to promote and develop the capacity of...
Supreme Court Refuses to Rehear Western Water Case Targeting Tribal Sovereign Immunity, but the Fight Continues
On October 30, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Klamath Irrigation District’s (KID) petition for certiorari of the Klamath Irrigation District v. United States Bureau of Reclamation, et al., case no. 22-1116. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had...
Interior Grant for Collection of Boarding School Oral Histories
On September 26, 2023, the Department of the Interior awarded a $3.7 million dollar grant to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition to create a permanent collection of oral histories from survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system....