The WashU Law Appellate Clinic recently submitted an amicus brief on behalf of two North Dakota tribes, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and the Spirit Lake Tribe, in the case of Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska v. United States Department of the Army, about the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The Clinic’s amicus brief emphasizes the importance of culturally appropriate consultation with tribes when addressing the repatriation of Native children’s remains buried at the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School. View the full brief here.
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF), which argued the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in September, leads the underlying litigation. WashU Law students in the Appellate Clinic helped prepare NARF’s attorney through moot sessions ahead of the argument. A decision from the court is pending.
In another case, Tix v. Tix, the Clinic submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Professor Maggie Blackhawk and other leading scholars of American Indian law. That case centers on whether a tribal court has jurisdiction to adjudicate the divorce and child-custody arrangements of a tribal member married to a nonmember, a question with significant implications for tribal-court authority across Indian Country.
The Clinic’s amicus brief outlines the long history of tribal courts properly exercising this type of jurisdiction. NARF attorneys argued the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit last week, with WashU Law students once again assisting in moot preparations. The court’s decision is forthcoming. Read the Clinic’s amicus brief in Tix v. Tix brief here.
