To:
National Indian Gaming Association Member Tribes
From:
Ernest L. Stevens, Jr., Chairman Jason Giles, Executive Director Danielle Her Many Horses, Deputy Director/General Counsel
Re:
U.S. Court of Appeals Rules In Favor of Tribal Governments in CRF Debate
Date:
September 28, 2020
On Friday, September 25, 2020 the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. District Court handed down its long awaited ruling on the case Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation et al. v. Steven T. Mnuchin . At stake is the eligibility of Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) to receive funds from the $8 billion set aside for tribal governments in the Title V. Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) within the CARES Act. The National Indian Gaming Association was an original co-signer to the Tribal Amicus Brief to defend the definition of Tribal Government . Congress made funds eligible to the governing bodies of any "Indian Tribe" as defined by the Indian Self Determination and Education Act of 1975 . The case turned on whether or not ANCs fit this definition. The Court of Appeals held that ANCs are not eligible recipients from this fund and not within the definition of "tribal government" in this statue because they are not "federally recognized," overturning the previous ruling from District Court Judge Mehta from June 26, 2020. Judges Katas and Henderson issued the opinion below. Judge Katas writes for the Court: In sum, when Congress enacted ISDA in 1975, it was substantially uncertain whether the federal government would recognize Native villages, Native corporations, both kinds of entities, or neither. In the face of this uncertainty, Congress expanded the term “Indian tribe” to cover any Native “village or regional or village corporation” that was appropriately “recognized.” By including both villages and corporations, Congress ensured that any Native entities recognized by Interior or later legislation would qualify as Indian tribes. There is no surplusage problem simply because, almost two decades later, Interior chose to recognize the historic villages but not the newer corporations as the ultimate repository of Native sovereignty. ... For these reasons, we read the ISDA definition to mean what it says, that Alaska Native villages and corporations count as an “Indian tribe” only if “recognized” as such.
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