A panel of law experts from several Indian tribes met last week to discuss the impact of the recent Supreme Court hearings concerning the White Mountain Apache and Navajo nations' cases. Both cases involve the Department of the Interior's mismanagement of land and resources owned by the tribes. “The Tucker Act . . . says that tribes can bring any kind of lawsuit against the United States where the United States has also waived its sovereign immunity for private citizens to sue,” panelist and University of Colorado law professor David Getches stated. “The question in both cases has to do with the extent of that waiver of sovereign immunity.” The justices' comments throughout the recent oral arguments concerning the cases surprised many panelists, who thought the Apache case was on shakier ground, only to see the arguments swing in the opposite direction. Despite agreement that the Navajo case involved a more serious breach of trust, the panelists remarked that it did not seem as likely to prevail. Under Chief Justice William Rehnquist roughly 80% of cases involving American Indian tribes were decided against them.
