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High Court Takes Up Case on Virus Relief Funding for Tribes

Associated Press

   ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral
   arguments in a case that will determine who is eligible to receive more
   than $530 million in federal virus relief funding set aside for tribes
   more than a year ago.

   More than a dozen Native American tribes sued the U.S. Treasury
   Department to keep the money out of the hands of Alaska Native
   corporations, which provide services to Alaska Natives but do not have
   a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

   The question raised in the case set for oral arguments Monday is
   whether the corporations are tribes for purposes of the Coronavirus
   Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which defines ``tribes'' under a
   1975 law meant to strengthen their abilities to govern themselves.

   The case has practical impacts. Native Americans have been
   disproportionately sickened and killed by the pandemic -- despite
   extreme precautions that included curfews, roadblocks, universal
   testing and business closures -- and historically have had limited
   financial resources. About $530 million of the $8 billion set aside for
   tribes hasn't been distributed.

   "But it also seems to me there have been bigger conceptual questions
   posed about who or what is an Indian tribe that have come out of this
   particular case and conflict,'' said Monte Mills, director of the
   Indian Law Clinic at the University of Montana. ``I think that's really
   been the source of a lot of concern or divisiveness.''

   Different conclusions

   Lower courts have parsed language in the Indian Self Determination and
   Education Assistance Act, other federal laws and congressional intent,
   and arrived at different conclusions. A U.S. district court found
   Alaska Native corporations can be treated as tribes for limited
   purposes, while a federal appeals court said they're not eligible for
   the CARES Act funding.

   The corporations, formed under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement
   Act, own most of the Native land in the state and serve as economic
   engines for Alaska Natives who are shareholders by birthright. The
   corporations also have non-Native shareholders.
   FILE - A vehicle drives on a pier to be loaded onto an Alaska state
   ferry while people fish underneath in Homer, Alaska, May 24, 2015. The
   U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments April 19, 2021, in a case
   involving federal virus relief for tribes.

   They've argued that a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court could have
   broad impacts for services they provide to Alaska Natives. The Indian
   Self Determination and Education Assistance Act is incorporated into
   dozens of statutes that cover language preservation, education,
   workforce development, economic development, housing and health care.

   It allows tribal governments or other entities on behalf of tribal
   governments to provide those types of services under contract with the
   federal government to Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

   The corporations argue they are interconnected with Alaska Native
   villages that aren't able to reach everyone, particularly in more urban
   areas of Alaska.

   "It feels a little bit like standing at the edge of a cliff and we may
   fall off, the fact that our services that we have relied upon for more
   than 40 years will potentially be gone based on a decision of this
   court," said Jaeleen Kookesh, an enrolled member of the Tlingit & Haida
   Indian Tribes of Alaska who works for Sealaska Corp. ``It just feels
   like we may fall and have nothing left to catch us.''

   'Unprecedented shift'

   Tribes argue the corporations, known as ANCs, simply aren't eligible
   for financial assistance meant for tribal governments that have direct
   responsibility for their citizens regardless of where they live.

   ``ANCs do not stand in the shoes of Alaska's federally recognized
   tribes, and allowing them to compete with tribal governments for scarce
   funding exclusively set aside for governments would represent a
   monumental and unprecedented shift in the legal status of ANCs,"
   attorneys for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota wrote in
   court documents.

   Three tribes in a related case are vying for a portion of the $530
   million, alleging in lawsuits that they were shortchanged by millions
   of dollars when the Treasury Department used federal data that showed
   they had zero citizens or numbers that were lower than their own
   enrollment figures. A hearing in that case, led by the Shawnee Tribe of
   Oklahoma, is scheduled next week.

   The latest federal virus relief package that President Joe Biden signed
   last month includes $31 billion for Indian Country, including $20
   billion that will go directly to tribal governments and will not
   include Alaska Native corporations. The federal government is
   consulting with tribes on how to disburse the funding, which must be
   used by the end of 2024.

   Mills said the Supreme Court case is being watched around Indian
   Country and by those who study and practice federal law pertaining to
   Native Americans and Alaska Natives. More than one-third of the 574
   federally recognized tribes are in Alaska.

   "It just highlighted the continuing problems and burdens posed by a
   legacy of federal Indian law on tribal communities," he said. ``That's
   a reason for folks outside of Indian Country to recognize this. It
   speaks to the broader issues of racial and social justice that are
   front and center right now.''