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Big Sandy Rancheria Enterprises v. Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 19-16777 · judgment June 16, 2021

Certiorari denied · February 22, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–9%)

Before the decision, about 1.5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Ninth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Questions presented

  1. Whether an Indian tribe incorporated by federal charter under section 17 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (25 U.S.C. § 5124) is an “Indian tribe or band with a governing body duly recognized by the Secretary of the Interior” authorized to bring suit under 28 U.S.C. § 1362.

  2. Whether the Indian Trader Statutes (25 U.S.C. §§ 261-263) or the Bracker balancing test (see White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 448 U.S. 136 (1980)) preempts the State of California’s regulation of intertribal cigarette sales, where an Indian tribe sells tribally manufactured cigarettes to Indian tribal buyers on their home reservations.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Tim Joseph Hennessy
Peebles Kidder Bergin & Robinson LLP

For respondent
Aimee Athena Feinberg
California Department of Justice

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Feb 22 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 26 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/18/2022.
  3. Jan 20 2022
    Reply of petitioner Big Sandy Rancheria Enterprises filed.
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  4. Jan 11 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Nicolas Maduros, Director of the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to respond filed.
    Main Document
  5. Jan 07 2022
    Brief of respondent Attorney General of California in opposition filed.
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
  6. Dec 06 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, et al. filed.
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  7. Nov 19 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 7, 2022.
  8. Nov 18 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 8, 2021 to January 7, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  9. Nov 04 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 8, 2021)
    PetitionAppendixCertificate of Word CountProof of Service