May 13, 2025
The U.S. Department of the Interior is asking a federal court to deny two Montana tribes a summary judgment win in their challenge over inadequate police funding, arguing the agency has gone above and beyond what the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act requires for money allocations.
April 16, 2025
Two Montana tribes have told a federal judge in the state that the U.S. Department of the Interior has frozen their law enforcement budget at what it was 28 years ago and that now the government owes the tribes millions of dollars.
February 21, 2024
A federal district judge partially dismissed claims in a lawsuit filed by two Montana tribes seeking to gain $3.8 million in additional police funding for their communities after they alleged the U.S. Department of the Interior kept their law enforcement budget at nearly the same level it was 25 years ago.
August 24, 2023
The federal government's claims that it can't be held accountable for trust duties owed to a Native American tribe is a "ludicrous" argument, the Fort Belknap Indian Community said, urging a federal district court not to toss its bid for $3.8 million in additional police funding.
August 15, 2023
Bureau of Indian Affairs officials have no obligation to provide an additional $3.8 million for law enforcement to two Montana tribes under a 1975 law that gave Native Americans greater autonomy, according to the federal government, which said doing so would force the bureau to accept every tribal contract funding request for any amount.
October 26, 2022
A Native American tribe in South Dakota has escalated its lawsuit accusing the U.S. government of failing to fund adequate law enforcement services on its reservation, telling a judge that more federal aid is needed immediately to curb a "public safety crisis" that recently included five suspicious deaths, possibly murders.