Document Type
Brief
Publication Date
3-1-2023
Abstract
Amici law professors listed in the Appendix are leading scholars and teachers of federal Indian law, with expertise in the rules of statutory interpretation that preserve the sovereign immunity of Native Nations absent Congress’s unequivocal expression of its intent to abrogate it. They file this brief out of a shared belief that the decision below is irreconcilable with this Court’s precedents and encroaches upon Congress’s constitutional authority to determine federal Indian policy.<\p>
The question of statutory interpretation in this case is answered by two bedrock principles of federal Indian law and the constitutional separation of powers between Congress and the Judicial Branch. Together, these principles make it clear that “it is fundamentally Congress’s job, not [the job of the federal courts], to determine whether or how to limit tribal immunity.” Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Cmty., 572 U.S. 782, 800 (2014). Citing “policy” among other reasons, Pet. App. 12a, the First Circuit wrongly took on that job when it held that Native Nations may not invoke sovereign immunity to bar damages actions under the Bankruptcy Code.<\p>
Recommended Citation
Fletcher, Matthew L.M., "Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin: Brief on Behalf of Amici Curiae Professors of Federal Indian Law in Support of Petitioner" (2023). Appellate Briefs. 89.
https://repository.law.umich.edu/briefs/89
Comments
Amicus: Ablavsky, Professor Gregory; Croker, Professor Helen L.; Crepelle, Professor Adam; Davis, Professor Seth; Fletcher, Professor Matthew L.M.; Singer, Professor Joseph William; Skibine, Professor Alexander T.