Indian Law Bulletins Updated 4/29/2026

U.S. Supreme Court Bulletin

The Tribal Supreme Court Project published an Update Memorandum on April 23, 2026.

Federal Courts Bulletin

• United States v. Holt (criminal jurisdiction; Tribal court)
• Jones, et al. v. United States (law enforcement jurisdiction; Tribal membership)
• McClamary v. D&L Real Estate Enterprises, LLC, et al. (Tribal jurisdiction; state jurisdiction)
• Gunter, et al. v. Contango ORE, Inc., et al. (jurisdiction; Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA))

State Courts Bulletin

• Petra J. v. Department of Family & Community Services, Office of Children's Services (Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA))

U.S. Legislation - 119th Congress Bulletin

• S.4368 - Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Water Rights Settlement Act / A bill to approve the settlement of the water rights claims of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and for other purposes.
• S.4381 - Western Tribal Water Act of 2026 / A bill to amend the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 to reauthorize the Indian Reservation Drinking Water Program, and for other purposes.
• S.4399 - A bill to provide for certain conveyances under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and for other purposes.
• S.4417 - A bill to amend the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Water Rights Settlement Act to make technical corrections, and for other purposes.
• H.R.8461 - To amend the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 to reauthorize the Indian Reservation Drinking Water Program, and for other purposes.
• H.R.8483 - To take certain land in the State of California into trust for the benefit of the Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians of the Barona Reservation, California, and for other purposes.
• H.R.8546 - To amend the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians Water Rights Settlement Act to make technical corrections, and for other purposes.

U.S. Regulatory Bulletin

• Utah; Uinta Basin; 2015 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard; Reconsideration and Repeal of Finding of Failure To Attain and Reclassification to a Moderate Nonattainment Area; Extension of the Attainment Date and Determination of Attainment by the Marginal Attainment Date (EPA)
• Finding of Failure To Attain and Reclassification of Tribal Portions of the Greater Connecticut Ozone Nonattainment Area as Serious for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (EPA)

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin

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• Abrogation without mention: A note on Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin.
• The bad man’s hourglass: Extending the clock on justice.
• Beyond dollars and dams: Reimagining cost-benefit analysis, flood control, and Indigenous rights in Hawaii.
• Chaco roads: Connecting cultural heritage and environmental justice.
• “The color question in the Supreme Court”: Black, white, and red in United States v. Perryman.
• “Discovered!”: Plaintiff’s brief to the United States Supreme Court in Johnson & Graham’s Lessee v. M‘Intosh (1823).
• The future of a melting Arctic: Implications for Indigenous rights.
• The Indian law aunties.
• Protecting cultural personality.
• Tribal rights of nature laws: Fulfilling sacred obligations.
• Tulsa v. O’Brien: A city adds to the battle over jurisdiction in Indian Country.
• Ward, trust, or sovereign: The impact of metaphor in Supreme Court Indian law jurisprudence.
• With religious freedom came religious authority: Apache Stronghold v. United States and the exclusion of Native American religion within the legal understanding of religious freedom.

News Bulletin

This week, in brief:

• Oregon lithium drilling faces legal challenge over habitat
• Michigan wins key legal battle over Line 5 pipeline
• Tribal advocates seek emergency court order to halt drilling at sacred Pe’ Sla site
• Apache Stronghold files updated lawsuit over Oak Flat land transfer
• More than 10,000 Oklahoma Native landowners may be owed oil and gas revenue, lawsuit says

Announcements

• The Native American Rights Fund is hiring a Director of Development, an Annual Giving and Digital Fundraising Manager, and a Law Fellow in the Boulder office and a Staff Attorney in the Alaska office. Learn more about the vacancies at our Career Center.

Indian Law Bulletins Updated 4/22/2026

U.S. Supreme Court Bulletin

One petition for certiorari was filed 4/8/26:

• Winnemucca Indian Colony v. United States (25-1170) (trust breach; resource management)

Federal Courts Bulletin

• United States v. King (criminal jurisdiction; Major Crimes Act (MCA) - Indian status)
• Comanche Nation v. Ware, et al. (Tribal sovereign immunity; Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA))
• Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall Reservation v. U.S. Department of the Interior, et al. (Tribal property; Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA))
• NDN Collective, et al. v. Retsel Corporation, et al. (civil rights - discrimination; Section 1981)
• Hackford v. United States Department of Interior, et al. (Tribal membership; disenrollment; Ute Partition Act (UPA))
• Sepulveda v. Payer, et al. (Tribal law; custodial orders)

State Courts Bulletin

• Matter of Welfare of the Children of: L.P. (Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA))

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin

Contact us if you need help finding a copy of an article.

• Bad men in the bordertown.
• Best practices for the exchange and protection of Tribal public health data: How federal, state, and local governments can honor Tribal data sovereignty.
• Native Hawaiians and environmental stewardship: Reclaiming the ‘āina in the face of a Western system.
• Tribal roots run deep: Robert Miller continues to pioneer Indian law in Oregon, Arizona.
• Turning sugar to alcohol: An originalist critique of implicit divestiture.

News Bulletin

This week, in brief:

• New oil and gas lease sale set for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, amid litigation
• Minnesota Indigenous lawmaker: Boundary Waters vote an 'assault' on Tribal sovereignty
• Nebraska prison rescinds temporary ban on access to outdoor space for Native American religious practices after lawsuit
• Maine casino’s lawsuit may threaten foundation of Indian law in US
• Cherokee chief won’t be allowed to speak on Oklahoma House floor again, chamber leader says

Announcements

• The Native American Rights Fund is hiring a Director of Development, an Annual Giving and Digital Fundraising Manager, and a Law Fellow in the Boulder office and a Staff Attorney in the Alaska office. Learn more about the vacancies at our Career Center.
• The Tribal Law Journal invites submissions for volume 26. The journal seeks scholarly, practitioner, and student work addressing legal issues affecting Tribal Nations and their internal justice systems. Visit the Tribal Law Journal's submissions page for more information.

Indian Law Bulletins Updated 4/15/2026

Federal Courts Bulletin

• Arizona Mining Reform Coalition v. United States Forest Service (cultural resources/property, Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act (SALECA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Free Exercise Clause)
• Douglas v. Wisner (law enforcement jurisdiction; Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA))
• Arizona v. Biden (cultural resources/property)

Tribal Courts Bulletin

• In the matter of A.L. (criminal jurisdiction)

Law Review & Bar Journal Bulletin

Contact us if you need help finding a copy of an article.

• Buried burdens: Contaminated lands and the unfinished business of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
• Indigenous constitutionalism.
• The intangible NAGPRA.
• The challenge of Indian Child Welfare Act enforcement in the modern age of child dependency.
• Recovering scale for climate action: Indigenous Peoples, nonanthropocentric ethics, and caretaking institutions.
• A right, not a request: International human rights law and the repatriation of remains from former Indigenous boarding schools in the United States.
• Subsistence as resistance: Reconceptualizing the theory of progressive property to incubate resistance to consumerism.

News Bulletin

This week, in brief:

• Eco jurisprudence – international momentum is growing
• Plans to withdraw protections from oil and gas development around Chaco prompt 70,000 public comments to federal agency in one week
• Lawsuit challenges prison ban on Indigenous faith practices
• New Wisconsin law allows Indigenous students to wear regalia at graduations
• What you need to know about Tribal sovereignty and birthright citizenship

Announcements

• The Native American Rights Fund is hiring a Director of Development, an Annual Giving and Digital Fundraising Manager, and a Law Fellow in the Boulder office and a Staff Attorney in the Alaska office. Learn more about the vacancies at our Career Center.