VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 09:36:26 03/12/01 Mon
Author: Anonymous
Subject: News and Issues

Advocate Reporter (no email / no homepage) wrote:

Campbell's support of Gorton raises questions
FEBRUARY 16, 2001

In a move which has many in Indian Country wondering where Ben Nighthorse Campbell's priorities lie, the only Native American in the Senate has endorsed a letter urging President George W. Bush to nominate Slade Gorton for a federal judgeship.

Already under fire for defending fellow Coloradan and controversial Interior Secretary Gale Norton -- whom a majority of Native Americans in a recent survey said would be "harmful" to tribes -- Campbell was one of 48 Republican Senators who signed a February 1 letter in support of the defeated former Washington Senator. But its the one GOP member who didn't sign it, as well as his explanation for not doing so, which has many worried.

According to his spokesperson, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz) declined to sign the letter because he disagrees with Gorton on a number of issues affecting tribes. Representing a state which includes most of the Navajo Nation and a number other tribes, McCain has been considered a friend to Indian Country.

Gorton, on the other hand, has long been viewed as a foe. During his tenure in the Senate, Gorton introduced bills which would have abrogated tribal sovereign immunity, changed trust land acquisition processes in order to benefit non-Indians, and forced tribes to collect state tax from non-Indian customers of Indian businesses.

Now seemingly placed in the middle is Campbell. Up for re-election in 2003, the two-term Senator has a long record of lobbying on behalf of tribes in his state and elsewhere. And unlike Gorton, most of Campbell's bills are successfully enacted into law.

Gorton has slipped out of the spotlight since losing the race to freshman Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) last November by only 2,229 votes. He was rumored to be in consideration for the Secretary of Interior position as well as a top spot in the Department of Justice but was passed over by the Bush administration.

Now, as Ron Allen, Chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington puts it, he's looking for "a place to land." Allen was one of several tribal leaders who launched an unprecedented million-dollar media and public relations campaign against Gorton last fall.

"Slade Gorton is a politician first and foremost," said Allen. "There's no question his career is alive and well. He's not done."

Its where he ends up, though, which could be troubling to tribes. His fellow Republicans, itchy for a conservative to sit on the bench, are asking Bush to nominate him to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

With three vacancies, the 9th Circuit hears a number of cases involving tribes. Gorton isn't all that unfamiliar with the court either and as Washington's Attorney General in the 1970s, he fought tribes in his state all the way to the Supreme Court in an historic treaty rights case.

He ended up losing the case but might be able to have a say in it soon enough. Seeking to protect their treaty rights, Washington's tribes have filed suit against the state and although the case is only at the federal district court level, it could up before Gorton.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals also has three vacancies and hears cases involving tribes. The court recently threw out an appeal challenging Sandia Pueblo's claim to the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico.

Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to comment on a possible judgeship for Gorton.




52 Date: 2001-02-18 16:07:24
Advocate Reporter (no email / no homepage) wrote:

‘American apartheid’
Russell Means defends his case against Navajo Nation courts


By Nathan J. Tohtsoni
The Navajo Times

FARMINGTON (Feb. 15, 2001) - Oglala Sioux. Indian activist. Movie star. Author. Presidential candidate. Musician. Libertarian. Freedom fighter. Sell out.



Russell Means




Whatever one decides to call Russell Means, there is no denying that the former American Indian Movement leader is still one of the more controversial, dynamic and influential Native American speakers.

Means signed copies of his two albums and autobiography, Where White Men Fear to Tread, on Saturday (Feb. 10) in Farmington.

Means, who once resided in Chinle, held nothing back as he touched on his pending lawsuit against the Navajo Nation, the cases of Peter MacDonald Sr. and Leonard Peltier, the takeover of the Fairchild plant in Shiprock, AIM, the murder of Anna Mae Aquash and charges that he's a "sell out."

"The reason I was protesting in the early 1970s - so I thought - was because my children wouldn't have to," he said. "I've marched all over this country. What I found out is if I want my people to be free, the Whiteman has to be free - at least in this country."

Means held an overflow audience of more than 120 people captive for about 90 minutes, mostly talking about the Libertarian Party and his personal experiences of fighting for the rights of American Indians.

The Libertarian Party of San Juan County (N.M.) - the third largest political party for which Means ran for president in 1988 - sponsored the forum.

'Native American' vs. 'American Indian'
He refused to use the term "Native American" because, as he described it, every person born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American.

He preferred "American Indian" because "America" was part of a word that a tribe in Columbia originated, he said, and the hemisphere was not named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci who sailed along the coast of present-day Brazil in 1499.

Means, 61, is a leading Libertarian Party candidate to run for president in 2004. He said the "military coup d'etat" that occurred Nov. 7 and put George W. Bush in the White House wasn't a surprise for American Indians.

"We've seen losers win in tribal elections, constantly," he said. "Look at the reservations, it's a perfect example that we're not free. You know what's wrong with having a piece of the pie; you don't have the whole pie. You want things to change in Indian Country, those people called tribal officials, they don't want anything to change. They all have a piece of the pie.

"All these public officials, they should be in prison for abusing us," he said.

Challenging Navajo Nation courts
On Jan. 11, the Chinle District Court ordered a stay in Means' case for a year until his appeal in U.S. District Court in Phoenix is decided. Means appealed his case after the Navajo Nation Supreme Court remanded three charges of criminal assault to the Chinle court.

Means is accused of threatening and battering Leon Grant, his former father-in-law and member of the Omaha Tribe, and allegedly battering Jeremiah Bitsui, a Navajo, on Dec. 28, 1997 in Chinle.

Means challenged the lower court's hearing and on April 14, 1998, the court upheld the charges. He then appealed - on the basis that the Navajo Nation does not have criminal jurisdiction over members of other tribes - to the tribal Supreme Court, which heard the case at Harvard University in Boston. It decided May 11, 1999, that the case be held over for trial.

Means appealed that decision to federal court. He argues that the Supreme Court violated the Treaty of 1868 when it sided with the U.S. government and, in a sense, accepted "American apartheid."

He does not see his lawsuit as an infringement on Navajo sovereignty.

"My lawsuit is for the Navajo Nation to live up to its own constitution, its treaty and the United States Constitution and recognize that they are a different country under a protectored status," Means said.

"This case also points out a peculiar fact of the dictatorship over Indian people by the U.S. Congress," he said. "The law that says that Indian tribes can prosecute other Indians was passed by Congress after the (U.S.) Supreme Court said it was constitutional, which means only in Indian law can Congress interfere and override a Supreme Court decision. No other U.S. citizen can this happen to.

"So it's time for the Navajo tribe and all tribal governments to wake up to the fact that the Congress of the United States of America is their dictator and we Indian people are not part of the political process of the U.S.," he added. "Simply put, it's an American apartheid."



51 Date: 2001-02-18 16:05:56
Advocate Reporter (no email / no homepage) wrote:


The Navajo Supreme Court disagreed, stating, "There is a general and false assumption that Indian nations have no criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians and nonmember Indians. While the United States Supreme Court ruled that Indian nations have no inherent jurisdiction over non-Indians...there is no inherent criminal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians.

"We find that the petitioner, by reason of his marriage to a Navajo, longtime residence within the Navajo Nation, his activities here, and his status as a hadane, consented to Navajo Nation criminal jurisdiction," the opinion stated. "This Court finds that the Chinle District Court has jurisdiction under the Treaty of 1868."

However, Means said, there are two bodies of Indian law involved in the case.

The first classifies a tribal government as nothing more than a corporation, "no different than a Rotary Club or Lion's Club," he said. The second utilizes sovereignty as a basis for legal decisions by the federal courts.

"In order for the Navajo Nation to have jurisdiction over nonmembers, they have to forgo their sovereignty and operate in a court of law as a corporation," he said.

MacDonald and Peltier
"Indian people who historically stood up for the rights of Indian people...I'll give you two elected leaders who improved the well-being of their people and went to prison for it. That is Richard Real Bird and MacDonald," Means said. "Both went to federal prison based on shoddy bookkeeping and false charges."

Real Bird, former Crow tribal chairman, was jailed on federal charges of mismanagement of tribal funds.

"You want to talk about power, look at the condition of the Navajo Nation since they prosecuted one of their own - look what's happened!" Means said. "(Dennis) DeConcini misspent millions of dollars of campaign funds and nothing happened to the former senator of Arizona. And it was at the very same time they were persecuting and prosecuting Peter MacDonald. People conveniently forget that.

"It's racist," he added. "Him and Leonard Peltier, it shows you the inhumane hatred for Indians. Leonard Peltier was a freedom fighter. One of the things you understand going into a struggle for freedom, you'll face prison and death. The phenomenon of Leonard Peltier is incredible. Going in, he knew the risk. I knew the risk. He refused to have anybody waste time on getting him out of prison. The waste of time trying to get him out of prison is a waste of time from gaining freedom.

"What you can do is elect me president and I'll pardon his (expletive)," Means declared.

Fairchild, AIM, the Aquash murder
Means said he and AIM joined in the Fairchild plant takeover in February 1975 only at the invitation of the Diné AIM. Twenty armed protesters took the plant for eight days. When they left, so did Fairchild Semiconductor. Left behind were 473 employees, mostly Navajos, without jobs.

"They (plant owners) were going overseas to Korea. They were leaving this area. They were leaving the Navajo Nation," he said. "Fairchild used that as an excuse and who got the blame? The victims."

Means said he's no longer a part of AIM.

"The American Indian Movement has sunk into colonization dysfunction," he said. "I'm no longer a part of that. The American Indian Movement served its purpose and history will reward us."

Means said a former AIM member was responsible for the killing of Anna Mae Aquash, who was suspected of being an informant. Aquash, 30, was kidnapped in Denver and killed in Rapid City, S.D. Her body was found near Wanblee, S.D., in February 1976. No arrest has been made in the case.

"It goes to show the racism of the judicial system in America," Means said. "I don't know how many times people have to be abused before they wake up to the fact and they say it hurts."

Three grand juries have convened, but no indictments have been made. Means said the Federal Bureau of Investigation knows the names of the kidnappers, the house she was taken to, the person who pulled the trigger and the man who ordered her execution. That man, he alleges, is former AIM member Vernon Bellecourt.

"It was the second time he ordered her execution. The first time was over here at Fairchild," he said. "This proves Vernon Bellecourt is a vile, murdering federal agent. I testified on that before the third grand jury. What more do they need?"

The 'sell out' accusation
In the past 10 years, Means has devoted time to developing a Total Immersion School in Porcupine, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The school, modeled after the Rough Rock (Ariz.) School, would totally immerse kids in Sioux culture and language.

He said that project would never have gotten off the ground if not for him getting involved in the entertainment industry.

"All of a sudden somebody wants to give you a lot of money and you're a sell out?" Means asked. "That means, therefore, that every Indian that has an income is a sell out. It's an absurd notion.

"What Hollywood has afforded me is I've met new people and doors have opened," he said. "Because I'm an actor, my total immersion school is reality. That would never have happened this quickly because I'm an actor now. By the way, I bought land (for the school) owned by a white man on my reservation, so I make no apologies for selling out."

Means and his wife, Pearl Daniel Means, reside in Santa Fe.



50 Date: 2001-02-18 15:55:42
Advocate Reporter (no email / no homepage) wrote:

Indian Inmates Suing Prisons

By Daniel J. Chacón
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE — Nine American Indian prisoners are claiming illegal interference with their religious practices in a lawsuit filed against New Mexico corrections officials.
Some of the inmates, who belong to a group called the Red Nation Indian Society, admit being involved in an April 1999 melee that followed similar complaints over religious freedom at the privately run Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, according to their lawsuit.
"The trend in this country toward providing or having spiritual services is becoming very strict and stern toward Native Americans because of the misunderstanding and ignorance of Native American practices," said Lenny Foster, a spiritual adviser and director of the Navajo Nation Corrections Project, which provides Indian prisoners outreach and spiritual counseling.
"Native American beliefs... are not within the ordinary understanding of what religion is," Foster said in a phone interview from his office in Window Rock, Ariz.
Denying Indian inmates their religious freedom "sets back the hope, the positive outlook about life," he said. "It sets in a real depression, and it establishes a lot of tension, frustration and anger."
The prisoners, who allege racial discrimination, are asking for a jury trial and punitive damages in excess of $400 million to prevent corrections officials from practicing similar alleged constitutional violations.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections, Department of Corrections Secretary Rob Perry and five other prison officials, including Jerry Mondragon Jr., the prison coordinator of Native American programs.
Wackenhut spokeswoman Margaret Pearson and Corrections Department spokesman Gerges Scott both declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit.
Prisons are required by state and federal law to let Indian inmates practice their religion. Inmates, who must provide proof of their heritage, must be allowed access on a regular basis to spiritual advisers and materials used for religious ceremonies.
The inmates who filed the lawsuit this month in state District Court claim their rights have been violated.
The men allege that after they formed a self-help group in the Hobbs prison in 1998, Warden Joseph Williams began to dismantle the programs and activities they had established.
They were allowed to participate in sweat lodge ceremonies, but problems followed, "including outright refusal to provide firewood," the lawsuit states. The inmates claim they were forced to use chemically treated wood with toxins that could cause serious medical problems.
The men allege in the lawsuit that their religious ceremonies were interrupted or stopped on several occasions, and some of their religious instruments, such as a ceremonial drum and eagle and other feathers, were confiscated.
The inmates' complaints fell on deaf ears, according to the lawsuit. "Each defendant either ignored the complaints or denied the requested relief so that the abuses and racial harassment continued unabated," it states.
On April 5, 1999, one of their sacred religious drums was confiscated, and the inmates claim it was desecrated. "This action was furtherance in a long list of abuses and racially discriminatory actions by defendant Wackenhut," the lawsuit states.
The next day, a disturbance broke out in the dining hall and spread to a corridor. Corrections officials said the riot appeared to have been started by several Indian inmates upset over religious freedom issues. Officials have estimated up to 170 prisoners were involved in the fight.
Police said one Indian prisoner told investigators that about 50 members of the Red Nation Indian Society met the day before, and 12 voted to riot.
The men claim in the lawsuit they were charged as being ring-leaders or participants in the melee to legitimatize the dismantling of their self-help group and the elimination of what few religious activities they were allowed.
Wackenhut and other corrections officials, the lawsuit states, "have unlawfully and unconstitutionally subjected plaintiffs to invidious racial and religious discrimination."
Foster of the Navajo Nation Corrections Project said he has visited with the inmates, who say the Corrections Department isn't complying with the Native American Counseling Act, which establishes procedures for operating religious programs.
"They feel they have entitlement to that act," he said. "I think it's a basic question of compliance and enforcement of that existing state statue. (Personally), I don't think it's being applied fairly."


49 Date: 2001-02-18 15:51:52
Advocate Investigator (no email / no homepage) wrote:



February 15, 2001
Gorton May Get Key Judgeship

By Mark Preston

Hoping to help a former colleague land a lifetime appointment to the federal bench after losing a nail-biting re-election bid, all but one Senate Republican has urged President Bush to nominate former Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) for a federal judgeship.

Bush is being pressed by GOP Senators to "recommend" Gorton for a judgeship on either the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is based on the West Coast.

"Senator Gorton possesses superior legal experience and abilities, and has demonstrated a strong commitment to public service," the GOP Senators wrote Bush in a Feb. 1 letter. "We are therefore confident that he will be an outstanding federal jurist."

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), already in hot water with his colleagues over a host of legislative issues, is the only GOPSenator who did not sign the letter promoting Gorton because he opposes the Washington Republican's position on Native American issues.

"Senator McCain declined to sign the letter because he strongly disagrees with Senator Gorton on American Indian issues involving tribal sovereignty," said Nancy Ives, McCain's spokeswoman. "Most Native Americans are concentrated in the western part of the country, and cases involving this issue would fall under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

"It is not based on a personal issue with Senator Gorton," Ives continued. "He wishes him well in his future endeavors." She added that McCain would take a "fresh look" at Gorton's nomination if Bush attempts to place him on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Several efforts to reach Gorton in his home state and D.C. for comment were unsuccessful yesterday.

Scott Stanzel, a Bush spokesman, said, "We do not comment on possible candidates for judgeships."

Republicans are eager to get a conservative on the Ninth Circuit because it is a hotbed for key decisions on controversial Western issues, especially matters involving the environment, such as logging rights.

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) said he helped draft the letter promoting Gorton for the judgeships and added that "both [requests] are possible and one ought to happen."

"I think it looks pretty good," Smith said. "It is simply a matter of time for the administration to get its list in order as to who they are going to send up here."

Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman Larry Craig (Idaho) said the goal of the letter is to "demonstrate to the administration how supportive we all are of Slade getting one of these positions."

"I think the administration obviously is very interested in it, and they recognize the value of a mind like Senator Gorton's," Craig said. "Not only is it an astute political mind, it is an astute legal mind, and one of the better ones that served in the Senate.

"My guess is it is just a matter of time that he gets something of that nature," Craig added.

Since losing his Senate seat to former Rep. Maria Cantwell (D) by a scant 2,229 votes in a contest that dragged out until Dec. 1, there has been wide speculation that Gorton would land a job in the Bush administration.

Reportedly Gorton was seriously considered for several Cabinet posts, attorney general, Energy secretary and Interior secretary among them, but those positions were filled by others - including two of his GOP comrades who also suffered defeat in 2000. Former Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) is now attorney general, while ex-Sen. Spence Abraham (R-Mich.) is Energy secretary.

Most recently, Gorton was said to be interested in joining Ashcroft at the Justice Department as solicitor general, but that job will likely go to Theodore Olsen, the attorney who represented Bush before the Supreme Court during the Florida recount debacle.

The 73-year-old Gorton has been mum on what his plans might be, and there has been added speculation that he will return to the private sector.

The aggressive action taken by the GOP to promote Gorton as a federal judge candidate has caught Democrats by surprise. Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) both said they were unaware of the Senate Republicans' interest in advocating that Gorton receive a lifetime appointment to the bench. Neither Daschle nor Murray would commit to voting for Gorton should Bush nominate him for either court.

"I guess I would want to talk to a few people about it and check a little bit more," Daschle said. "I don't know if there is a competing nominee or not."

Added Murray, "At this point I am not going to make any comment because it is a 'what if.' I certainly have a lot of admiration for Senator Gorton, and we will see what happens."

However, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, said if Gorton is nominated by Bush he would probably be looked on favorably by the panel.

"I have always had a good relationship with Slade," Leahy said. "The President is not going to ask me for advice on judges, but I would think there would be strong support for him in the committee. But that assumes he goes through all the vetting."

Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has also enthusiastically given Gorton his stamp of approval, describing the Washington Republican as "one of the better legal minds that has served here in the Congress."

Prior to joining the Senate, Gorton had already earned a reputation for being deft in the legal arena. He served as Washington state's attorney general from 1968 through 1980 and from that perch argued a case before the Supreme Court, where he lost an effort to halt Indian tribes from reaping 50 percent of Washington's salmon runs. That is one of many issues that has pitted him against Indian tribes in the state.

In the Senate, Gorton was a close confidante of Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who often leaned on his colleague for legal advice.

Still, some Democratic Senators said Gorton's confirmation for a federal judgeship is not guaranteed.

One Democratic Senator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that if either Murray or Cantwell were opposed to Gorton's ascension to the bench, then most members of the Democratic Caucus would likely honor their objections.

Another Democratic Senator, who also wished to remain anonymous, added that some Democrats are still boiling over Senate Republicans' efforts to block many of former President Bill Clinton's judicial nominees.

"There is such a history of judgeships around here, given what they did to our side," the senior Democratic Senator said. "It is really hard to know what is going to happen on judges."

Should Gorton be selected to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C., he would sit on the smallest - but arguably the nation's most significant - appellate court, because many cases involving the federal government are heard there. At one time that court was home to several famous judges, including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. There are three vacancies on the court.

If Gorton were to be nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, he would join the most controversial appellate court in the country. Republicans have long accused the court of being too liberal.

"There is a lot of support for him, particularly for the Ninth Circuit, because they need some people like him," said a senior GOP Senator, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was in the news Monday for its ruling that the Web site Napster must cease allowing people to trade copyrighted music online. There are also three openings on this court.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-6
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.