Anti-Indian figure appears in segment on tribal court jurisdiction

Tuesday, June 21, 2016  

Indian Country isn't the only one paying attention to a tribal jurisdiction case that's pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Comedian Samantha Bee is featuring a segment on Dollar General Corporation v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians on the June 21 episode of her TBS show Full Frontal. She starts off by connecting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump --whose race-based attacks on a federal judge drew widespread condemnation -- to the case.

"Racist or not, the 'brown judges aren't fair to me' argument is being made right now in the Supreme Court," Bee states in the segment.

Bee travels to North Carolina to visit the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She learns more about the tribe's sophisticated court system, which functions much like any other in the nation.

"All we're asking is to be treated like any other court in the United States," Bill Boyum, the chief justice of the Eastern Cherokee Supreme Court, tells Bee.

The real meat comes in an interview with Elaine Willman, an anti-Indian figure who has spent her professional career antagonizing tribes across the nation. In the segment, she accuses tribes of seeking greater authority to prosecute crimes because "they want all the white people off the reservations."

"They're all a threat to the U.S. Constitution and the private property rights and the civil rights of American citizens," said Willman, who is active with the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, a group that claims federal Indian law and policy is racist.

Bee notes that tribes, generally, lack jurisdiction over non-Indians in both criminal and civil contexts. The Dollar General dispute arose out of a civil lawsuit filed in the courts of the the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

The Supreme Court's decision will determine whether the tribe can exercise authority over a publicly-traded company that reported $18.9 billion in net sales in 2014. Dollar General signed a lease to operate a store on the reservation but claims it did not explicitly to be subjected to lawsuits in tribal court.

A decision could come this week or the court could wait until next week, when the justices complete work on a term that saw a record four Indian law cases on the docket.

Supreme Court Documents:
Docket Sheet No. 13-1496 | Questions Presented | Oral Argument Transcript: Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

5th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision:
Dollar General Corporation v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (March 14, 2014)
Dollar General Corporation v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (March 14, 2014)

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