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Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation v. Yakima County, Washington, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 19-35199 · judgment June 29, 2020

Certiorari denied · April 5, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

The United States reassumed Pub. L. 83-280 criminal jurisdiction over crimes involving Indians within the Yakama Reservation from the State of Washington pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 1323, on April 19, 2016. Years later, federal officials re-interpreted the scope of that federal reassumption to allow the State of Washington to once again exercise criminal jurisdiction over Indians within the Yakama Reservation any time a nonIndian is involved in the crime. The question presented is: Can the United States change the scope of its reassumption of Pub. L. 83-280 jurisdiction in Indian Country years after the reassumption became effective under 25 U.S.C. § 1323 without the Yakama Nation’s prior consent required by 25 U.S.C. § 1326?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Ethan Andrew Jones
Yakama Nation Office of Legal Counsel

For respondent
Kirk Andrew Ehlis
Menke Jackson Beyer, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Apr 05 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 16 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/1/2021.
  3. Mar 12 2021
    Reply of petitioner Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation filed. (Distributed)
  4. Feb 26 2021
    Brief of respondents Yakima County, Washington, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Jan 14 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 1, 2021.
  6. Jan 13 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 15, 2021 to March 1, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Dec 16 2020
    Response Requested. (Due January 15, 2021)
  8. Dec 09 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
  9. Dec 03 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Yakima County, Washington, et al. to respond filed.
  10. Nov 25 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 31, 2020)