Transcript of Argument in Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle

The transcript of the argument today in Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle is available here. Surprisingly, the Court was heavily interested in the idea that a majority Indian-owned corporation might be considered an Indian or member of a tribe for jurisdictional purposes. At one point during the argument the Court was erroneously advised by counsel that such corporations could not be organized under tribal law. If, as the questioning suggests, the corporate form of the respondent plays any significant role in the disposition of the tribal court jurisdictional issue posed in the case, the decision, if adverse to tribal court jurisdiction, could have significant adverse affects not only on tribal court jurisdiction but also on the ability of Indians to adopt corporate forms of organization for economic enterprise.

Given that the case should turn on the basic Montana tests, surprisingly little of the oral argument and the questioning involved any actual analysis of that line of cases.

Upcoming Tribal Law / Tribal Courts Conference

American University Washington College of Law (WCL) is hosting a conference, What Do We Know About Tribal Courts? An Examination on the 30^th Anniversary of Oliphant, examining tribal law and tribal courts on March 6, 2008. While Federal Indian Law, the law governing federal-tribal relations, has made its way onto an increasing number of state bar exams and Indian law scholarship periodically even is published in leading law reviews, tribal law in some respects remains Indian law’s younger sibling. Ten years ago, while a professor at WCL, Nell Jessup Newton, now Dean of Hastings, observed that “the work of tribal courts is little known outside the circle of attorneys practicing before tribal courts on a regular basis and scholars of
Indian law.” Nell Newton, Tribal Court Praxis: One Year in the Life of Twenty Indian Tribal Courts, 22 AM. INDIAN L. REV. 285 (1998). A scholarly focus on tribal courts is also a logical outgrowth of the U.S. Supreme Court’s problematic understanding of tribal courts 30 years ago in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978). Borrowing from the conclusion of Dean Newton’s exploration of tribal courts, the hope is that this conference will “serve to allow for a critical dialogue” on tribal law.
-- If you are interested in presenting at this conference, please contact Ezra Rosser by Dec. 20, 2008 at 202-274-4064 or erosser@wcl.american.edu.