• The court dealt a setback to public employee unions in states including Idaho and Utah. In a 6-3 ruling, it said those states may forbid agencies from collecting union political dues from employees.
Such laws are rare, but the court said they do not violate the First Amendment rights of the unions.
• The court limited the federal government’s authority to hold land in trust for Indian tribes. The court’s ruling applies to tribes recognized by the federal government after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act.
The U.S. government argued that the law allows it to take land into trust for tribes regardless of when they were recognized, but Justice Clarence Thomas said in his majority opinion that the law “unambiguously refers to those tribes that were under the federal jurisdiction” when it was enacted.
The ruling comes in a case involving the Rhode Island-based Narragansett Indian Tribe — formally recognized in 1983 — and a 31-acre tract of land the tribe purchased in rural Charlestown. At issue was whether the land should be subject to state law, including a prohibition on casino gambling, or whether the parcel should be governed by tribal and federal law.
Indian-rights advocates said Congress intended for the law to set a new standard for future relationships with all tribes, regardless of when they were recognized.
It remains unclear how many tribes could be affected by Tuesday’s ruling.
• A member of the Northern Arapaho tribe who killed a bald eagle for use in a Native American ceremony could face up to a year in jail after the court decided not to hear his appeal.
The court’s ruling Monday is the latest turn in a long-running legal dispute over the rights of American Indians to kill eagles for religious purposes.
Winslow Friday has acknowledged that he shot and killed a bald eagle without a permit on the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming for use in his tribe’s 2005 Sun Dance.
The high court’s ruling means that Friday will face a misdemeanor charge in federal court in Wyoming. He could face up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine if convicted.
