Will President Biden Choose an Indian As Interior Secretary? Deb Haaland is the choice for 50 House Democrats

Deb Haaland 
(D) New Mexico

More than 50 House Democrats are making a formal push for President-elect Joe Biden to select Rep. Deb Haaland as his Interior secretary.  Haaland spoke on tribal disenrollment earlier this year.  We that story here

The New Mexico Democrat, who is already being vetted for the position, would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary in the nation’s history.  It's a long time coming and will help make the empty promises of Presidents a thing of the past.
You can make history by giving Native Americans a seat at the Cabinet table for the first time,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter, obtained by POLITICO on Thursday.

The letter, led by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, was delivered to the Biden transition team this week. Grijalva also endorsed Haaland for the post this week in a letter to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Read the Politico article here

Amicus Curiae Brief to Support Writ of Certiorari in AGUAYO v. JEWELL to the US Supreme Court

Some Pala Tribal people, seeking JUSTICE are filing for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court against the Department of Interior in Aguayo V. Jewell.  Please support their effort by sharing this post on social media.

Here is an AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE TRIBAL JUSTICE CLINIC OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LAW AND POLICY PROGRAM James Diamond  to highlight the existing fundamental trust obligation between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the members of the Pala Band of Mission Indians in regard to enrollment, and how, in this case, the troubling ruling below has allowed the historic trust obligation to be abrogated.


This passage of the brief highlights the BIA's FAILURE:

The Bureau of Indian Affair’s (“BIA”) failure to fulfill its trust responsibility to the Pala Band of Mission Indians to ensure that a Constitution was validly enacted was arbitrary and capricious and directly contributed to improper disenrollments. The BIA has a duty to ensure that the interests of all tribal members are protected and that governing documents adopted by the tribal government reflect the will of a majority of the tribe’s members. By recognizing and applying an improper tribal enrollment ordinance and an invalid constitution, the BIA abrogated its trust obligation to tribes. Moreover, the BIA’s failure to ensure that the tribe’s governing documents comported with legitimate ratification procedures constitutes a violation under the APA and undermines the importance of tribal membership.

VIEW the BRIEF HERE

MONEY QUOTE:

Dept. Of Interior's Larry Echo Hawk Rules 60 members of San Pasqual Band Are to Be Ousted

About 60 members of the small San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, which operates the highly successful Valley View Casino, are not really members of the tribe, the United States Department of the Interior ruled Monday.
Those subject to the decision, which overturns one made in 2008, will be ousted from the tribe. They will no longer share in casino profits, will have to move off the reservation, and will not be able to take advantage of any other tribal benefits, the band’s spokesman, Allen Lawson, said Monday.

At the heart of the issue is whether the descendants of Marcus Alto Sr. should be considered blood members of the tribe.

Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, the highest authority for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, ruled that Alto was adopted when three days old in 1907 by members of the tribe and therefore his descendants are not truly blood members of the San Pasqual band. Alto died in 1988. Even the year of Alto’s birth is a point of contention. Documents also mention 1903 and 1905 as birth dates.