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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2002

The North Dakota Supreme Court today hears a dispute which tests the limits of tribal sovereignty.

Paying in blankets and beads, the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe Tribe bought 1.43 acres of land from a retired rancher with an ulterior motive. Roger Shea wanted to prevent the state from taking the land for use in a dam project.

The state still wants the land and offered $300 for the parcel. But the tribe won't sell and says it is an ancestral burial site located 200 miles away from its reservation.

Hoping to get around the snafu, the state wants the land condemned. A state judge, however, said the tribe's sovereignty prevented that from happening.

Get the Story:
North Dakota land transferred to tribe to foil dam project (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 1/30)

Relevant Links:
Case Documents, Cass County v. 1.43 Acres of Land - http://www.court.state.nd.us/Court/Calendar/20010217.HTM

Related Stories:
N.D. court hearing land dispute (1/29)