Oneida Nation avoids potentially negative Supreme Court action

Wednesday, January 12, 2011  

The Oneida Nation is no stranger to the U.S. Supreme Court but the tribe went out of its way to avoid coming before the justices in a closely watched case.

The court was due to hear Madison County v. Oneida Indian Nation on February 23. But after the tribe waived its sovereign immunity -- a key issue in the case -- the justices ordered the case to be reheard by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

“You never know what the Supreme Court is going to do,” said John Dossett, the general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians, told The Utica Observer-Dispatch. “It could have really hurt them.”

The tribe will now litigate the case on other grounds, attorney Seth Waxman said, although the article didn't elaborate. The issue is whether two counties can foreclose on tribal properties within the tribe's ancestral reservation.

Get the Story:
Impact of Oneidas case stretches beyond region (The Utica Observer Dispatch 1/12)

Supreme Court won't be hearing Oneida Nation foreclosure case (1/10)