DC Circuit upholds tribal membership rule

The California Valley Miwok Tribe has never validly completed its initial organization under the Indian Reorganization Act.

California’s Gambling Revenue Sharing Trust Fund is currently holding over $27 million that may be disbursed to the Tribe.

In 2015, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn identified three eligible groups for the Tribe’s initial organization process.

In 2019, Interior’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment concluded that John Jeff was not the son of Jeff Davis, but instead the son of another man known as “Indian Jeff”; that conclusion reduced the number of people eligible under Washburn’s criteria from 289 to about 10.

In 2022, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland revised Washburn’s decision, adding a fourth eligible group: descendants of Miwok Indians listed on the 1929 Census.

The Plaintiffs challenged that revision under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The DC Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision because Newland’s decision was reasonable and the Plaintiffs did not preserve their other claims.