Federal Judiciary

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Hearing: Carcieri v. Salazar

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

Today, at 2:15 pm the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will conduct a hearing in response to the recent Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. The decision limited the Secretary of the Interior’s authority to place land into trust under 25 U.S.C. § 465, the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), only for Indian tribes under federal jurisdiction when the IRA was enacted in June of 1934. Prior to the decision, the Department of the Interior construed the IRA as granting authority to place land into trust under the IRA for all federally recognized tribes. Further analysis of the decision is available here.

The witnesses include Edward Lazarus, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP (prepared testimony available here); W. Ron Allen, the Secretary of the National Congress of the American Indians; and Lawrence Long, the Chairman of the Western Attorneys General.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).