A monumental victory for the Swinomish Indian Tribe was announced this spring when a judge in the Western District of Washington ordered BNSF Railway Company to pay nearly $400 million in profits damages to the Swinomish...more
On June 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court handed down its third decision regarding federal Indian law this term. In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that the Navajo Treaty of 1868 does not require the United States to...more
Fee-to-trust, sometimes also called land-into-trust, is the process by which tribes can have land taken into trust by the federal government. Congress authorized the Department of the Interior (DOI) to take land into trust...more
Background Details on 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Window -
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) is presenting federally recognized Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages with a unique opportunity to directly access...more
In an effort to protect Indian tribal members and residents of Indian reservations and slow the spread of COVID-19, several tribes have issued shelter-in-place orders. Like the orders issued by a number of state governors,...more
Over the last few years, the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) updated the federal regulations on leases and rights-of-way on Indian trust land. Important tax provisions were included in the new...more