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from the
City Pages
story, Mille Lacs tribal court
brief, DPS Commissioner Weaver caves in to tribal pressure
by Bill Lawrence, publisher
City Pages
writer Mike Mosdale contacted Press/ON
several weeks ago, after
reading our March 16 article "Illegal
process, Red Lake tribal courts."
In that article, we detailed the legal nightmare that engulfed a young
mother, Jawnie Hough, when the State of Minnesota rubber-stamped a Red
Lake tribal court decision reversing State-adjudicated custody of
Jawnie's daughter Meghan.
Mike Mosdale spent a lot of time researching the Jawnie Hough story. He
read our files, made photocopies of our legal documents, and went up
north to interview some of the principals, including Jawnie Hough. He
was also interested in the case of Press/ON
writer Clara NiiSka, who was removed from the Red Lake tribal courtroom
where the estate of her deceased husband, Press/ON columnist
Wub-e-ke-niew, was being probated. NiiSka was banished from the
reservation by tribal council chairman Bobby Whitefeather in order to
get her out of the court-room. NiiSka is presently petitioning the
State Supreme Court for State recognition of a traditional marriage
which was valid under the laws at Red Lake when she and Wub-e-ke-niew
married in 1984, and for removal of the Red Lake tribal court's
determinations from the State Courts' Judgments.
City Pages
writer Mike Mosdale was also concerned about the case of
another journalist, Press/ON
reporter Jeff Armstrong. He interviewed
Armstrong, and rode with Jeff and me to Mille Lacs for the May 24th
hearing at the Mille Lacs tribal court. We are told that the story that
Mosdale wrote for City Pages
included segments on all these legal
issues.
The cover story that City Pages
published on June 20, "No
Reservations," began as background information about Press/ON, a part
of a more serious investigative report on reservation tribal courts in
Minnesota. The "No Reservations" story recently published by City Pages
published is posted online at http://www.citypages.com/archive/ and Press/ON has
heard that Mosdale is rewriting the parts of his story
that City Pages has not yet
published.
During this past week, I filed a brief in the Mille Lacs tribal court,
challenging their jurisdiction over the suit that Jeff Armstrong and I
filed in federal court more than two and a half years ago. It was
referred back to tribal court by U.S. Magistrate Judge Erickson last
August. I thought the legal issues underlying the Armstrong case would
be of interest to many of our readers, therefore we have published my
Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction and the supporting
Memorandum in this issue of Press/ON.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision
released on Monday, Nevada v. Hicks, not only caused a last-minute
rewriting of my legal brief, but also substantially limits Indian court
jurisdiction not over non-members, as well as removing jurisdiction
which the tribal courts have claimed over civil rights actions under
§ 1983 of the federal code. As Justice Scalia held in his opinion
in that case, tribal courts are not courts of general jurisdiction. The
precedent established by Nevada v. Hicks is another limit on the Indian
establishment's claim tribal sovereignty. The U.S. Supreme Court posts
its decisions online at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/.
Clara NiiSka's
series on
tribal courts will resume on July 13th.
Also this week, the State Department of Public Safety hand-delivered
DPS Commissioner Charlie Weaver's "Temporary Classification Request."
Weaver formally requested that David Fisher, Commissioner of the
Minnesota Department of Administration, reclassify the tribal gambling
audits, which can be obtained by the State under the Tribal-State
gambling compacts, so that they are not available to the public. Not
surprisingly, my Minnesota Data Practices Act request for the all of
the tribal gambling audits held by the State seems to have touched off
a flurry of lobbying by the tribal establishment. According to the
procedures of the Data Practices Act, the Commissioner of
Administration will open a thirty-day review period during which the
public and media can comment. The Commissioner's address is: Mr. David
Fisher, Commissioner, Department of Administration, 50 Sherbume Avenue,
St. Paul, MN 55155. Re: DPS's June 27 Request for Temporary
Reclassification of Tribal Gambling Audits
Press/ON
will have our semi-annual break next week, and will resume
publication on the July 13th. Have a pleasant 4th.
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