Senate and House Introduce Carcieri Fix Legislation
In February 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision that sent shock waves throughout Indian country, which continue to reverberate. The Court’s Carcieri v. Salazar decision prohibits the Secretary of the Interior from taking land into trust on behalf of tribes who were not “under federal jurisdiction” when the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934.
Before the IRA and in the wake of the Allotment/Dawes Act, Indian lands were pillaged by non-Indian homesteaders. Poor and desperate Indian landowners were cajoled if not coerced into selling their lands for pennies on the dollar. The IRA was enacted to prevent further unscrupulous alienation of Indian lands. To that end, Congress provided the Secretary of Interior with the authority to, among other things, restore reacquired Indian lands to federal trust status.
On September 24th, Senator Byron Dorgan introduced S.1703 to clarify Congress’s intent regarding the IRA; the bill has been called the “Carcieri fix.” Representative Tom Cole introduced companion legislation, H.R. 3697, on October 1st. Tribes and tribal members must review the legislation and request that their members of Congress support immediate passage of Senator Dorgan and Congressman Cole’s legislation. State, county and local government and anti-Indian gaming groups will certainly oppose the bills.
Tribal economic development, tribal land stewardship and tribal sovereignty at large all weigh in the balance of the Carcieri fix.
