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  • Resource Database / Law & Legal Issues / Cases & Controversies


    This category includes information about specific legal cases or controversies -- both current and historical -- including documents filed in some cases. 
    Resources: 64 listings
    Name and Description Nation Location
    "Bear" Lincoln Murder Trial - news coverage
    Wailaki US - Northwest
    comprehensive coverage by The Albion Monitor
    A Dance of Deception
    Lakota US - Central
    A leading Native American scholar and educator says the federal raid on Alex White Plume's hemp crop is yet another manifestation of the US government's two-faced policy toward Indians.
    by Don Trent Jacobs, in Mother Jones magazine, February 20, 2001
    More sites on www.motherjones.com
    A-LP Central
    Ute US - West
    Examining the possible entitlements of the Colorado Ute tribes to water from the Animas & LaPlata rivers
    More sites on www.angelfire.com
    Advocates for Leonard Peltier
       
    Official site of Leonard Peltier's legal team. Contains information on cases and current actions
    American Indian Mascots
      US - Northeast
    Focuses on activity in western North Carolina with links and additional information on the national movement to eliminate Indian mascots
    Amnesty International Statement: Indigenous Peoples' Human Rights Long Denied
       
    Amnesty International today charged in a new report that Indigenous populations throughout the Americas continue to suffer grave human rights violations despite increasing international efforts to protect their rights.
    More sites on www.amnestyusa.org
    Amnistía Internacional: Los pueblos indígenas derechos humanos
       
    Amnistía Internacional denunció en un nuevo informe divulgado hoy que las poblaciones indígenas de todo el continente americano siguen sufriendo graves violaciones de sus derechos humanos a pesar de los crecientes esfuerzos internacionales para proteger sus derechos.
    More sites on www.amnestyusa.org
    Anna Mae Aquash
    MicMac Canada - Eastern
    information and archives maintained by First Nations web site.
    More sites on www.dickshovel.com
    Big Mountain Dineh Relocation Resistance
    Navajo US - Southwest
    "This is about the largest forced relocation of American Indians in the 20th century to make way for Peabody Western Coal Company to strip mine the ancestral lands of the Dineh. This is being done with the aid of the corrupt US and tribal governments.
    "Although this page is partially translated into several languages, this English version will always be the first to be updated."
    Black Hawk vs. Lehigh Township
      US - Northeast
    petition to support native wildlife zoning permit
    More sites on www.dickshovel.com
    Confederated Native Court Decision
    MicMac Canada - Eastern
    In the matter of court jurisdiction under natural law in and over the unceded Indian territories of the Hudson, St. Croix, Chaleur Bay, Ottawa and lower St. Lawrence River Drainage Basins and Estuaries (USA and Canada), February 2, 1997.
    More sites on sisis.nativeweb.org
    Disconnecting the BIA from the Net
      United States
    The actual December 5, 2001, court transcript in which a Federal judge orders that the BIA shut itself down as regards Internet access to Indian trust fund account data. BIA representatives admit in court that they do not understand the order.
    More sites on www.tolatsga.org
    Do Native Americans Have First Amendment Rights?
    Navajo US - Southwest
    by: Leslie Thatcher, t r u t h o u t | Interview with the Navajo Nation's lead attorney in Navajo Nation v. USFS, Howard Shanker
    Ninth Circuit rules effluent does not defile sacred space. Forest Service argued skiing on treated sewage "a compelling government interest."
    European Parliament Letter: Western Shoshone Concerns
    Shoshone US - Southwest
    February, 1998, to US Secretary of Interior
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Federal Judge: BLM Should Not Remove Livestock from Tribal Land
    Shoshone US - Southwest
    By Carri Geer; Las Vegas Review-Journal
    Free MacDonald!
    Navajo US - Southwest
    Peter MaDonald was granted a commutation of sentence by President Clinton on Jan. 20, 2001.
    Hawaiian Independence: Affidavit of Francis A. Boyle (Kanahele)
      US - Hawaii
    statement by attorney supporting right of Mr. Kanahele, Head of State of the Nation of Hawaii, to receive all the privileges and immunities, respect and deference, that must be accorded to a Head of State as required by the general principles of public international law.
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    How To Kill A Nation: U.S. Policy in Western Shoshone Country Since 1863
    Shoshone US - Southwest
    Pamphlet produced by the Western Shoshone National Council, with maps and photos. "It is the solemn duty of the Western Shoshone to protect Mother Earth from all forms of environmental destruction exemplified by open pit mining, atomic testing, storage of nuclear waste, all forms of military testing and the pollution of the ground, air and water."
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Huron Indian Cemetery
    Wyandot US - Central
    This is not a curse to be taken lightly. The battle to defend Huron Indian Cemetery from commercial development has been ongoing for the past 130 years. The Wyandot Nation of Kansas has always and will always defend the Huron Indian Cemetery from any threats and desecration. The Wyandot Nation of Kansas is dedicated to the PRESERVATION, RESTORATION and MAINTENANCE of the Huron Indian Cemetery in Kansas City Kansas.
    More sites on www.sfo.com
    Indian Boarding School Class Action Lawsuit
      United States
    Herman & Mermelstein represents Native Americans in claims against the United States and various religious institutions relating to Indian boarding schools. The claims relate to the physical, mental and sexual abuse committed upon Native Americans at the Indian Boarding Schools. In addition, Herman & Mermelstein is bringing claims for the genocide perpetrated upon Native Americans as part of U.S. policy to assimilate them into “white society”.
    Indian Motorcycle Trademark Dispute
    Umpqua US - West
    Part of the unsuccessful attempts at revival of the Indian Motorcycle Company was that trademark rights had been caught up in a complex legal web.
    Indian Smallpox
      US - Central
    The devistation of smallpox on the Indians of the upper Missouri.
    More sites on www.thefurtrapper.com
    Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton (Babbitt)
      United States
    Cobell v. Norton is a class-action lawsuit filed on June 10, 1996, in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to force the federal government to account for billions of dollars belonging to approximately 500,000 American Indians and their heirs, and held in trust since the late 19th century. Through document discovery and courtroom testimony, the case has revealed mismanagement, ineptness, dishonesty and delay by federal officials, leading U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to declare their conduct "fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form."
    Indigenous Women's Network Statement: Killings of Indigenous Activists
      America - South
    In response to murder of Ingrid Washinawatok, the Co-Chair of The Indigenous Women's Network and Lahe'ena'e Gay and Terence Freitas, two other members of a humanitarian delegation to the U'wa people of Colombia. [Issued March 8, 1999]
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Jeffrey Amherst and distribution of smallpox-infected blankets to the Indians (1763)
      US - Northeast
    documentation of Amherst's letters on this subject
    More sites on www.umass.edu
    Johnson v. McIntosh (as decided by moot court of Indian law scholars)
      US - Central
    "We reject the doctrine of discovery as a sufficient predicate for the holding of the Supreme Court of the United States in this case, we agree that the law of nations justifies the true holding of that court and therefore affirm its judgment."
    Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy, 9 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 889 (2000)
    Justice for Indigenous Prisoners
       
    This Website is made for my 4 innocent Native American friends in US prisons and all the other wrongfully convicted Indigenous women and men behind the bars
    Justice for Joe
    Chippewa US - Southwest
    Hello, my name is Jessie, I'm a Dutch woman, I live in Holland, and I've dedicated a website to a young Native American man named Joel Ritchie who's serving a life sentence in prison, but is innocent!
    More sites on members.lycos.nl
    Kamehameha Schools - Admissions Policy Lawsuit
    Kanaka Maoli US - Hawaii
    n June 2003, a plaintiff identified as "John Doe" filed suit against the Kamehameha Schools, a private educational institution founded through the Last Will and Testament of a Princess in the Hawaiian Kingdom to provide educational opportunities for Native Hawaiian children and funded by the revenues from its private endowment. On December 5, 2006, in an 8-7 ruling, an en banc panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the legality of Kamehameha Schools’ preference policy.
    More sites on www.ksbe.edu
    Kanaka Maoli Statement on Racism
    Kanaka Maoli US - Hawaii
    a list of the racisms that Kanaka Maoli and other indigenous peoples suffer under United States colonialism. This list was developed for public presentation to the US government December 10 - 11, 1999
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Leonard Peltier Defense Committee International Office
      US - Central
    The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC) seeks the immediate release of Leonard Peltier. The LPDC is the center of communication between Leonard Peltier, his supporters, his family, the media, key government officials, and all other relevant individuals and groups.
    More sites on www.freepeltier.org
    Leonard Peltier Statement of Facts
    Ojibwe US - Central
    Memorandum from the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee to members of the United States Congress
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Links to Makah Whaling Issue
    Makah US - Northwest
    Wide variety of links compiled by gbergi@wonton.ca and posted in alt.native on November 2, 1998.
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Long Soldier International
    Sioux United States
    This site has been created to help Long Soldier, a convicted Oglala Lakota, with his struggle for freedom.
    More sites on www.longsoldier-international.com
    Maori Independence / Tino Rangatiratanga Site
    Maori Aotearoa-New Zealand
    This site focuses on "proactive struggle against the colonial state."
    Native American Advocate Prisoner Defense Committee
       
    A site working for native american prisoners,their family members,etc. Read their stories and all the news and issues facing them.
    More sites on www.geocities.com
    Native American Spiritual Freedom in Prison
      US - Northeast
    Trapp v. DuBois, Massachusetts Superior Court
    More sites on www.umass.edu
    New York State (USA) Indian Tax War
    Iroquois US - Northeast
    by John Mohawk (from NativeNet);
    "The decision by the Pataki administration to stop trucks carrying tobacco and motor fuel products destined for the Indian reservations after April 1 was long predicted and expected in legal circles. What was unusual and unexpected was the negotiations with several traditional governments which led to an interim agreement..."
    One Nation Lies
    Choctaw United States
    This site was created to help fight against organizations like One Nation who oppose Tribal sovereignty, tobacco and fuel sales and gaming. It is our hope to educate and bring awareness to all who are interested.
    One White Nation
      US - Central
    This website is intended as a joke, spoof and exposee of ONE NATION, INC. http://www.onenationok.com In Oklahoma, hate and ignorance are driving a purported "fairness" agenda to attack 39 Native American Indian Tribes.
    Oneidas for Democracy
    Oneida US - Northeast
    Explanation and updates on the struggle of the traditional Oneidas against the government imposed and supported leader of the Oneida Nation, Inc.About the illegal activity, and humanrights violations presently going on there.
    More sites on www.oneidasfordemocracy.org
    Papal Bulls Burning!
      US - Hawaii
    We call upon the people of conscience in the Roman Catholic hierarchy to persuade Pope John II to formally revoke the Inter Cetera Bull of May 4, 1493, which will restore our fundamental human rights. That Papal document called for our Nations and Peoples to be subjugated so the Christian Empire and its doctrines would be propagated.
    Petition for David Croud
    Ojibwe US - Central
    Mr. David Croud-a 29 year old member of the White Earth Reservation-was beaten to death by 8 members of the Duluth Police Department. Please sign our petition of protest--we plan on doing something about this terrible death at the hands of those who should serve, not hurt. Guy Gambill
    More sites on www.petitiononline.com
    Peyote Church case
      US - Southwest
    US v. Boyll, New Mexico Federal District Court [744 F. Supp. 1333 (1991)]; opinion by Chief Judge Burciaga
    Running for Justice
    Blackfeet US - West
    Zacary RunningWolf Brown, Blackfeet Tribe, is running 5,000 miles - San Francisco to Philadelphia - to demand justice and a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, an African American journalist on death row.
    Shundahai Network
    Shoshone US - Southwest
    "One Water...One Air...One Mother Earth," Western Shoshone Spiritual Leader, Corbin Harney
    Smallpox and Indians
       
    from the discussion list on early American history, IEAHCNET
    Statement of Lee Phillips regarding Big Mountain
    Navajo US - Southwest
    attorney's statement about Navajo-Hopi land dispute deadline, released March 18, 1997
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Stop the Slaughter!
      US - Northwest
    grassroots organization to protect the Bison in Yellowstone
    The Drug War Comes to the Rez
    Lakota US - Central
    "When Alex White Plume planted a field full of industrial-grade hemp, he hoped that his crop might lift his family and community out of poverty. Then the DEA came to Pine Ridge."
    by Leora Broydo, Mother Jones magazine, Feb. 13, 2001
    More sites on www.motherjones.com
    The Mixed Blood Uinta's of Utah
    Ute US - West
    The lawsuit of Felter -vs- Norton
    The Zapatista
      United States
    The information revolution is leading to the rise of network forms of organization, whereby small, previously isolated groups can communicate, link up, and conduct coordinated joint actions as never before. A RAND Institute report views the Zapatista movement in Mexico as a seminal case of "social netwar."
    More sites on www.rand.org
    Transform Columbus Day Alliance
      US - Central
    This alliance opposes Columbus Day, Columbus celebrations and the Columbus legacy. Noting that the Columbus Day holiday began in Colorado in 1905, this alliance acknowledges its unique responsibility to confront the Columbus holiday and Columbus celebrations, in Denver, and in Colorado.
    Ts'peten Defenders (Gustafen Lake)
       
    More sites on sisis.nativeweb.org
    United Nuwaupian Nation of Moors
    Creek (Muskogee) US - Southeast
    UNNM - Issues involving Chief Black Thunderbird (Eagle) and the the Yamassee Native American Moors of the Creek Nation.
    Wampanoag Fishing Rights
    Wampanoag US - Northeast
    Massachusetts Courts uphold Mashpee Wampanoag Fishing Rights, in two historic decisions (1998, 1999).
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Warren v. Pataki, Roth, et al
    Seneca US - Northeast
    Chronicles a Federal Court Action that seeks to compel the State of New York through its Governor and Commissioner of the Department of Taxation and Finance to enforce the sales tax imposed by Articles 12-a, 20, and 28 of the New York Tax Law on sales to non-indians that occur on Indian Land within the state.
    Welcome to kisikawpimootewin and group(s) website!
      Canada - Western
    We are an open forum research and study group who collectively have journeyed on a path for a number of years accumulating document(s) of the scheme(s) and routing used by the titled CANADA to enslave and by fraud remove the Lawful standing, recognition and right of claim(s) of the referred to and titled separate and distinct Sovereign Indigenous Peoples on miskanahkministik (turtle island).
    Western Shoshone Defense Project
    Shoshone US - Southwest
    The Western Shoshone Defense Project's mission is to affirm Newe (Western Shoshone) jurisdiction over Newe Sogobia (Western Shoshone homelands) by protecting, preserving, and restoring Newe rights and lands for present and future generations based on cultural and spiritual traditions. The W.S.D.P. was established in 1991 by the Western Shoshone National Council to provide support to Mary and Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmothers who were facing the confiscation of the livestock which they graze on Western Shoshone lands.
    Western Shoshone Territorial Integrity Litigation
    Shoshone US - Southwest
    challenge to "federal plenary power" by Western Shoshone National Council
    Wiener vs. Aquinnah Shellfish Hatchery
    Wampanoag US - Northeast
    Massachusetts Superior Court decision that Aquinnah Tribe has sovereign immunity from suit by town zoning officer. Decided: June, 2003.
    More sites on www.nativeweb.org
    Willamette Meteorite
      US - Northwest
    In late 1999, Oregon's Grand Ronde Tribes launched an effort to bring the Willamette Meteorite home from New York.
    More sites on www.usgennet.org
    Woprcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832)
    Cherokee US - Northeast
    Full text Supreme Court decision; from Cornell Legal Information Institute
    YA BASTA: The EZLN Page
    Maya Mexico
    Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional Año 17 de la lucha y séptimo de la guerra contra el olvido y la mentira




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