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As I put out my last week’s newsletter, news of Justice Ginsberg’s passing was just starting to circulate. This week, another legal throughline is unraveling. This afternoon, the DC Circuit Court ruled in favor of a handful of tribes who were suing US Secretary Steve Mnuchin over the remaining forty percent of their CARES Act relief aid. Since May, tribal leaders have been waiting for the rest of their funding that - had the court ruled the other way - would have allowed a little-known group of corporations in Alaska to benefit from the $8 billion bailout. For tribes, it had less to do with the money and more to do with the dangerous precedent it could set, in the future - companies acting as tribal governments. Oof. Riyaz Kanji, the attorney who argued on behalf of the Confederated Tribes of Chehalis, among other appellees, had this to say about today’s important win: “The Confederated Tribes Plaintiffs appreciate the Court’s thorough, careful exposition of the statutory and historical factors making it clear that Alaska Native Corporations are not Indian Tribes, a term restricted to sovereign Tribes enjoying a government-to-government relationship with the United States.”
Kanji argued before Justice Ginsburg in the succession of cases that restored reservation boundaries to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation earlier this year, resulting in the landmark decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma. Ginsburg was considered a critical swing vote in that case considering her shaky record on Indian Country. For more on that, read this piece in The Marshall Project. The news cycle is fast-moving as we near Election Day. As part of my weekend reading, I’ll be boning up on this recent report by the Native American Rights Fund about voter suppression hurdles facing Indian Country. I’ll also turn my attention to what looks like a lovely read about Indigenous Radio in Canada: Spoken from the Heart. And then, of course, there’s that painful Washington Post case study about misinformation that I’ve been meaning to take in. Read along with me and let me know what you think. And enjoy this week’s newsletter. I keep growing this platform, including subtly introducing a new vertical: Article VI, named after the section of the US Constitution declaring treaties as the “supreme Law of the Land.” More to come. Thanks for being on this journey with me, Jenni Monet
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