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John McMahon, in His Official Capacity as Sheriff of San Bernardino County, et al. v. Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 17-56791 · judgment August 19, 2019

Certiorari denied · March 9, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel with five or more prior petitions here, a state or local-government petitioner, and a Ninth Circuit decision below.

Questions presented

The questions presented by this petition are:

  1. Under Barker v. Harvey, 181 U.S. 481 (1901) and United States v. Title Insurance & Trust Co., 265 U.S. 472 (1924), did the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe’s failure to file a land claim under the 1851 Act extinguish any of the Tribe’s rights as to Section 36 as conveyed to the State of California for school purposes under the Enabling Act of 1853?

  2. Given that this Court has found that states take title to property under the Enabling Acts subject to aboriginal title only where a preexisting treaty has preserved the aboriginal title, does the absence of any Chemehuevi Indian Tribe reservation at the time Section 36 was conveyed to the State of California under the Enabling Act of 1853 bar any claim by the Tribe or its members that Section 36 constitutes Indian country?

  3. Does the Appropriation Doctrine bar any claim by the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe or its members that the 1907 Secretarial Order could transfer Section 36 to the Tribe after the property had already been conveyed to the State of California for school purposes under the Enabling Act of 1853?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Timothy Towery Coates
Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP

For respondent
Lester John Marston
Rapport and Marston

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Mar 09 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 19 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/6/2020.
  3. Feb 14 2020
    Reply of petitioners John McMahon, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  4. Jan 30 2020
    Brief of respondents Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Dec 23 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 30, 2020)