Indian Law Bulletins Updated 6/24/2026

Federal Courts Bulletin

• Wichita and Affiliated Tribes v. Stitt (State-Tribal Gaming Act (STGA); Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA))
• Garfield County, Utah, et al. v. Trump, et al. (cultural property; sovereign immunity; Antiquities Act)
• Wood v. Niswi LLC (Tribal law; civil jurisdiction - arbitation)
• Bradby, et al. v. Koetting, et al. (Tribal law; civil jurisdiction - arbitation)
• State of Wisconsin v. Johnson, Sr., et al. (Tribal law; hunting and fishing rights)
• Yurok Tribe, et al. v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, et al. (resource management; Endangered Species Act (ESA))

State Courts Bulletin

• Legend Lake Property Owners Association v. Guy Keshena (Tribal sovereign immunity)

U.S. Legislation - 119th Congress Bulletin

• S.4811 - A bill to amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to include Indian Tribes in certain provisions relating to priority resource concerns.
• S.4813 - A bill to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land held in trust for federally recognized Indian Tribes.
• S.4832 - A bill to amend the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to allow the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into self-determination contracts with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations to carry out supplemental nutrition assistance programs.
• S.4869 - A bill to improve the Indian School Equalization Formula of the Bureau of Indian Education, and for other purposes.

U.S. Regulatory Bulletin

• Royalty for Oil and Gas Lost From Onshore Federal and Indian Leases (Interior)
• Migratory Bird Subsistence Harvest in Alaska (Interior)
• Reducing Bureaucracy and Burden for Native American Programs (HHS)
• Final Waivers and Extensions of the Project Periods With Funding for the American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program and the American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Training and Technical Assistance Center (Education)

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin

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• Accessing justice & the Indian Child Welfare Act.
• Incorporating Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (“ITEK”) in post-wildfire response and recovery: Life after fire: (Re)imagining post fire recovery for Headwater Dependent Communities Symposium.
• #Landback to Indigenous Peoples from “land-grab” universities.
• Membership and self-identification in The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: a commentary on Article 33.
• Native rights and the possibility of difference.
• State criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country: A history.
• Towards balance and equity: An Indigenous review for updating the 2016 water agreement between the Choctaw & Chickasaw Nations with Oklahoma & the United States government for a sustainable future of water use.
• Uncivilized procedure.
• The unfulfilled liberation: The Navajo Nation, the federal government and the legal history of Indian slavery in the Reconstruction Southwest.

News Bulletin

This week, in brief:

• Once a federal boarding school, local Tribes now set the curriculum at the Santa Fe Indian School
• Opinion: The mission of John Echohawk
• Utah’s lawsuit to overturn Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monument boundaries revived by appeals court
• Dakota County Minnesota celebrates opening of Indian Child Welfare Act Court
• Tohono O’odham Nation sues feds to block border wall construction on Tribal land

Indian Law Bulletins Updated 6/17/2026

Federal Courts Bulletin

• Yurok Tribe, et al. v. Klamath Water Users Association, et al. (resource management; Endangered Species Act (ESA))
• Round Valley Indian Tribes, et al. v. Kendall, et al. (criminal jurisdiction; Tribal sovereignty)
• National Parks Conservation Association, et al. v. United States Department of the Interior, et al. (National Park Service Organic Act; Administrative Procedure Act)
• United States v. The State of Alaska, et al. (hunting and fishing rights; sovereign immunity)
• Muscogee (Creek) Nation v. Free, et al. (hunting and fishing rights; law enforcement jurisdiction)
• The Cherokee Nation v. Free, et al. (hunting and fishing rights; law enforcement jurisdiction)
• Frank's Landing Indian Community, et al. v. Enlow (civil jurisdiction; Tribal sovereign immunity)
• Taylor v. Niswi LC, et al. (Tribal law; civil jurisdiction - arbitration)

Tribal Courts Bulletin

• In the matter of MB and EB (jurisdiction over non-members, Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA))

State Courts Bulletin

• Ruby C. v. Department of Family & Community Services (Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA))

U.S. Legislation - 119th Congress Bulletin

• S.4731 - A bill to amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to establish subaccounts in the Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion Fund, and for other purposes.
• S.4779 - A bill to support nutrition, farmers, the seafood industry, agricultural research, wood energy and innovation, and indigenous self-determination, and for other purposes.
• S.4785 - A bill to amend the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to allow the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into self-determination contracts with Tribal organizations to carry out the food distribution program on Indian reservations, and for other purposes.
• H.R.9250 - To modernize and maintain the National Park Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Indian Education in celebration of America's 250th anniversary.

Passed legislation:

• ARTIST Act / Alaska’s Right to Ivory Sales and Tradition Act / A bill to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to protect the cultural practices and livelihoods of producers of Alaska Native handicrafts and marine mammal ivory products, and for other purposes became Public Law No: 119-99 on 6/12/2026.

U.S. Regulatory Bulletin

• Reforms To Remove SBA's 8(a) Program's Rebuttable Presumption of Social Disadvantage for Individually Owned Firms Only; Reforms Do Not Impact Entity-Owned Firms (U.S. Small Business Administration)
• Statutory Suspensions and Regulatory and Administrative Requirement Flexibilities Available to Native American Programs During CY 2026 To Assist Tribal Grantees With Recovery and Relief Efforts on Behalf of Families Affected by Presidentially Declared Disasters (Office of Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing (PIH), HUD)

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin

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• Bad men in the bordertown: Confronting police violence against Native Americans with the bad men treaty clauses.
• Beyond race: The political classification of Native Americans and the future of affirmative action.
• Compensation for Indigenous language loss.
• Coordinated sovereignty: Federal tools for resolving state-Tribe conflict.

News Bulletin

This week, in brief:

• Senator Mike Lee’s fast-track attempt to scrap Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s management plan has failed
• South Dakota Tribes revoice claim to Black Hills through joint resolution
• Department of Defense removes Native American Religion distinction, groups as ‘other’
• Federal officials say drastic proposed changes to a contracting program won’t affect Tribes and Native corporations
• Water agencies, Tribes and conservation groups defend “two-basin solution” amid federal meetings on Potter Valley Project

Indian Law Bulletins Updated 6/10/2026

U.S. Supreme Court Bulletin

One petition for certiorari was denied 6/8/26:

• United States v. Hopson (25-1039) (Major Crimes Act (MCA))

Federal Courts Bulletin

• United States v. Smith (criminal jurisdiction - sentencing; Major Crimes Act (MCA))
• New Mexico Trappers Association, et al. v. Torrez, et al. (religious practices; hunting and fishing rights)
• Oregon-California Trails Association, et al. v. Hogan, et al. (National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA))
• Harris, et al. v. W6LS, Inc., et al. (Tribal law; civil jurisdiction - arbitation)
• Welsh, et al. v. Loudbear, et al. (Tribal sovereign immunity)
• Alegre, et al. v. United States of America, et al. (Tribal membership)
• United States, et al. v. Ballard (Indian Country; criminal jurisdiction)
• United States, et al. v. Iski (Indian Country; criminal jurisdiction)

Tribal Courts Bulletin

• Muscogee (Creek) Nation v. Thomas Leo Banks, Jr. (Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - jury selection)

State Courts Bulletin

• Matias Sergio Quiroga v. State of Florida (subject matter jurisdiction)

U.S. Regulatory Bulletin

• Notice of Intended Disinterment From Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery; Correction (DoD)
• Notice of Filing of Plats of Survey; Maine (Interior)

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin

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• The fiscal politics of settler colonialism.
• Indian deference.
• Tribal comanagement at the state level: The Oregon experience.

News Bulletin

This week, in brief:

• U.S. House passes Albuquerque Indian School Act
• New BLM grazing rules eliminate Tribal buffalo from public lands
• A legal dispute over Lac du Flambeau Tribal fishing restrictions remains unresolved
• Oregon Governor Tina Kotek returns civil jurisdiction to Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
• A lawsuit challenges Hawaii homestead leases limited to those with 50% Hawaiian blood

Announcements

• The Native American Rights Fund is hiring an Election Protection Manager. Learn more at our Career Center.