Native American

  • April 16, 2025

    Mont. Tribes Want DOI To Come Through With Police Funding

    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.

  • April 16, 2025

    Interior Transfers 110,000 Acres To Army For Border Security

    The U.S. Department of the Interior is transferring 110,000 acres of federal land along the southern border to the U.S. Army to support Border Patrol as part of a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration.

  • April 16, 2025

    DOI Blocked From Making Connecticut Tribal Land Moves

    A Connecticut federal judge has temporarily barred the U.S. Department of the Interior from placing 80 acres of land claimed by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation into trust, and scheduled an expedited hearing on the state's request for a longer delay.

  • April 16, 2025

    Justices Urged To Deny Insurers' Tribal Jurisdiction Challenge

    The Suquamish Tribe told the U.S. Supreme Court it shouldn't hear a group of insurers' bid to litigate COVID-19-related property insurance claims outside tribal court, arguing the Ninth Circuit correctly held that the insurers' coverage of tribal property sufficiently established tribal jurisdiction.

  • April 16, 2025

    Judge Restores EPA Grant Funds For Climate Change Groups

    A D.C. federal judge has ordered Citibank NA to start disbursing Biden-era federal grant funding to nonprofits working on climate change projects, and blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's effort to terminate the grants.

  • April 15, 2025

    Judge Tells Feds To Unfreeze Climate, Infrastructure Funds

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies must "turn the funding spigots back on" while environmental groups challenge the Trump administration's decision to cut congressionally approved dollars for infrastructure, agriculture, climate and other initiatives, a Rhode Island federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2025

    New Mexico Pueblos Allowed Into Fed Mineral Lease Ban Suit

    A pair of Native American pueblos can intervene in a Navajo Nation suit seeking to undo a Biden administration order withdrawing federal land from new mineral leasing around Chaco Canyon, a federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2025

    DC Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To $44B Alaska LNG Project

    The D.C. Circuit rejected a challenge by conservation groups against the U.S. Department of Energy's reapproval of a $44 billion liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, ruling Tuesday the department's conclusion regarding uncertainty over the project's effects on greenhouse gases was supported by "overwhelming evidence" in its environmental impact statements.

  • April 15, 2025

    Court Abused Discretion In Tesoro Pipeline Row, 8th Circ. Told

    Enrolled members of a North Dakota tribe say a lower court abused its discretion in denying them intervention in a lawsuit challenging the federal government's right-of-way trespassing claims against the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline, arguing it failed to consider the full scope of their interests and rights at stake.

  • April 15, 2025

    Calif. Residents Sue Feds Over Tribe's Federal Status, Casino

    Three Plymouth, California, residents and a civil rights nonprofit have alleged in a suit that the federal government conspired to approve federal recognition, fee-to-trust and gaming applications for the Ione Band of Miwok Indians, questioning the constitutionality of the trust relationship between the U.S. and Indigenous nations.

  • April 15, 2025

    Senate Dems Call For Probe Into IRS Nominee's Business Ties

    The IRS needs to investigate companies associated with President Donald Trump's nominee for IRS commissioner that are suspected of promoting a scheme to sell nonexistent tribal tax credits to investors, two Senate Finance Committee Democrats said in a letter published Tuesday.

  • April 14, 2025

    Juul Seeks Ax of Noncompliant Plaintiffs In E-Cig Suits

    Juul on Monday asked a California federal judge to toss claims brought by plaintiffs who failed to comply with court orders, about two years after Juul reached a $255 million global settlement in the litigation.

  • April 14, 2025

    Conn. Sues Feds To Block 80-Acre Tribal Land Trust Decisions

    Connecticut is asking a federal court to undo a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs decision to take 80 acres into trust for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, arguing it lacked authority to issue the order that, if allowed to stand, it said will end the state's sovereign territory rights.

  • April 14, 2025

    Feds Push To End Alaska Tribe's Gold Mine Permit Challenge

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a gold mine developer are asking a federal court for permission to move for early dismissal of an Alaskan tribe's remaining claim against an open-pit gold mine near the Yukon border, saying its amended lawsuit doesn't fare better than the original.

  • April 14, 2025

    Trump Admin Moves To Weaken Migratory Bird Protections

    The top lawyer at the U.S. Department of the Interior says the federal government lacks the power to prosecute companies that inadvertently kill federally protected migratory birds, a legal position the department took during the first Trump administration but which was overturned by a federal court in 2020.

  • April 14, 2025

    Enviro Groups Sue Trump Admin Over Webpage Removals

    Environmental and science organizations, including the Sierra Club, filed suit on Monday in D.C. federal court over the Trump administration's removal of federal agency webpages that provided critical information concerning the environment, saying agencies removed the webpages without explanation, leaving the organizations unable to access sources they've long relied on.

  • April 14, 2025

    Four State Govs. Call On EPA To Increase Biofuel Targets

    Governors of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to boost the amount of biofuel blended into fuel supplies as a way to help meet the Trump administration's domestic energy goals and strengthen investment in agriculture and rural communities.

  • April 14, 2025

    ABA Scholarship Illegally Bars White Applicants, Suit Says

    The American Bar Association unlawfully discriminates against white law students by excluding them from a scholarship program for racial and ethnic minorities, according to a federal lawsuit from a group founded by the conservative legal strategist who led a successful Supreme Court challenge to affirmative action in university admissions.

  • April 11, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: Private Credit, CMBS, Algorithmic Pricing

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including fresh takes on the rise in private credit, a surge in commercial mortgage-backed securities, and the wave of algorithmic pricing laws in the rental market.

  • April 11, 2025

    Native Villages Say It's Time To Vacate $70M Broadband Grant

    Now that a federal court has found that Alaskan native villages are tribal lands in the same way reservations are, that court is being told it's time for it to grant two such villages summary judgment on their claims that the government wrongly gave away $70 million in broadband funds meant for them.

  • April 11, 2025

    Trump Grid Order Threatens To Roil Electricity Sector

    President Donald Trump's directive to keep struggling power plants on the grid is an unusual use of the U.S. Department of Energy's authority to ensure power delivery during emergencies, and it could invite lawsuits while upending wholesale electricity markets.

  • April 11, 2025

    Another Calif. Tribe Files Suit Over $700M Casino Project

    A California Native American tribe alleged in District of Columbia federal court that the federal government unlawfully placed land in a trust and approved a $700 million, 160-acre casino resort project that was proposed by another California tribe.

  • April 11, 2025

    Virginia Tribe Says Medicaid Dispute Will Sink Healthcare Biz

    The Nansemond Indian Tribe is requesting that a federal court hand down an order that would instruct Virginia to continue processing its more than 130,000 unpaid Medicaid reimbursement claims, arguing that without it, the commonwealth will succeed in driving its healthcare entity out of business.

  • April 11, 2025

    EPA Workers Allege Discrimination Over Indefinite Leave

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees dedicated to working on issues facing poor and minority communities exposed to disproportionate pollution say in a new complaint that the EPA is discriminating against them by forcing them into indefinite leave.

  • April 10, 2025

    Calif. Centers Used 'Body Brokers' In $10M Scam, BCBS Says

    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma slammed two California recovery centers and their owners with a lawsuit Thursday, alleging they spearheaded a $10 million kickback scheme to employ "body brokers" to find Indigenous patients for substance treatment facilities where they went to appalling lengths to stop them from leaving.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • 2 Options For Sackler Family After High Court Purdue Ruling

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked Purdue Pharma's plan to shield the family that owns the company from bankruptcy lawsuits, the Sacklers face the choice to either continue litigation, or return to the bargaining table for a settlement that doesn't eliminate creditor claims, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Impact On Indian Law May Be Muted

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    Agency interpretations of Indian law statutes that previously stood the test of judicial review ​are likely to withstand new challenges even after the end of Chevron deference, but litigation in the area is all but certain, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Purdue Ch. 11 Ruling Reinforces Importance Of D&O Coverage

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, holding that a Chapter 11 reorganization cannot discharge claims against a nondebtor without affected claimants' consent, will open new litigation pathways surrounding corporate insolvency and increase the importance of robust directors and officers insurance, says Evan Bolla at Harris St. Laurent.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 37 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Opinion

    Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift

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    It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

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