Are Tribes like PALA the Correct Authority to Determine DEGREE OF INDIAN BLOOD

 

Kevin Washburn, this happened under YOUR WATCH with the leaders of the Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians.  WHY did you turn a blind eye?

The Britten Descendants arbitrarily had their Degree of Indian Blood LOWERED by the Executive Committee of the Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, California.   They were seeking their disenrollment, but the two issues can be separated.

THIS IS AN ISSUE OF WHO HAS THE AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE DEGREE OF INDIAN BLOOD.

The allowing of a Tribal authority to determine Degree of Indian Blood is not only a serious matter but one that will have serious consequences for the United States, State Governments, Indian Tribes and Individual Indians.

The United States is, as a matter of its sovereign power and under the Doctrine of Pre-Emption, the entity with the sole authority to determine the Degree of Indian Blood of an individual Indian.

THE PALA MATTER

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: