"One petition has already been granted (United States v. Tohono O’odham), and three petitions are up for review at today’s conference. There could be six or more Indian law-related Supreme Court cases decided this Term, more than any Term in the last few decades. Note that the of the seven cases listed here, only one was filed by an Indian or Indian tribe (no. 4, the Iron Thunderhorse case, which likely has no real chance of being granted). The rest were filed by either a state government or subdivision, or the federal government.

As noted in our earlier comments on today’s SCOTUSblog petitions to watch, petitions filed by tribal interests tend to disappear. That means that petitions brought by tribal interests to challenge the denial of Schagticoke federal recognition (which, if you’ll recall, was initially favorable until a private meeting with then-Secretary Norton and several powerful Connecticut politicians), Indian self-determination act challenges, a challenge to the application of the tobacco Master Settlement Act to on-reservation sales, and others probably will die on the vine."

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Updated Preview of 2010 Supreme Court Term (Turtle Talk 9/27)

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SCOTUSBlog Petitions to Watch for the “Long Conference” and Commentary (Turtle Talk 9/27)