Tribes Wary of Supreme Court Nominee Miers

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON - A damaging charge against Supreme Court justice nominee Harriet Miers is circulating through American Indian e-mail networks: that in 1999 she was the inspiration for the Texas government's drive to shut down the casinos of two federally recognized tribes. The allegation is debatable, but supported by enough circumstantial evidence to make it worth investigation.

The allegation is that as chair of the Texas Lottery, Miers was worried about the declining performance of its major weekly game and attributed the falloff to competition from the casinos. According to the rumor, she prevailed on then-Gov. George W. Bush to get then-Attorney General John Cornyn to bring suit to close the tribal casinos.

Documents to support this sequence are lacking. But there is enough in the public record, including Miers' own statements, to make it a serious question for her confirmation hearings - if any senator can be found to raise issues of concern to Indian country.


more...

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=18f9a9d30d51fce93caa58da96f2a6ad

[sofa king]

1. I've been looking forward to this.

Here's a little story from the inside. Back in 1999 and 2000, I worked for a law firm which represented American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.

Though he dodged the question for months, Bush finally got caught with the $64 question: what was the Governor's position on tribal sovereignty? Instantly, the President proved his ignorance by saying something very close to, "I think tribes should be subservient to state law." (His "thought" contradicts 200 years of Constitutional law, by the way, but you guys know that song by heart by now.)

That's all he said. His flock of liars first tried say that he didn't say it, then they said he misspoke. Then he stole the election and tried his damnedest to kill tribal sovereignty, but not before looking still more stupid. We asked for clarification from the Indian affairs person in the campaign, only to discover they didn't have one, then yes, they did have one, but she (yes, it was a she, never named) was too busy to ever, ever talk. To anyone.

Anyway, that was the one data point that we had to go on for months as we analyzed the election of 2000. Finally, one of our people from Texas sent me an email which roughly said the following:

The Bush people don't know jack shit about Indians. The closest thing they have to an Indian affairs attorney on staff is a lottery commissioner who has been trying to de-tribalize Texas tribes because their gambling competes with the state of Texas. The Governor didn't mis-speak, he was merely telegraphing what he intended to actually do if elected.

I think that Harriet Miers was at the very center of all that. In fact, I think that Miers was the "Indian affairs expert," who so carefully hid away during the election. But more importantly, since the President never meets privately with anyone without a Presidential hand-holder on the scene, I give it high odds that Ms. Miers was in the room when Jack Abramoff and Presdient Bush were discussing... what?

The carving up of a Quechan sacred site in favor of a Glamis Gold cyanide heap-leach mine?
The intentional definition of tribes as "local governments" to ensure that they would have to lobby Congress (through Jack Abramoff) in order to get any Homeland Security funding?
The revocation of casino gaming for the Tigua and Alabama Coushatta?
Maybe all of the above, and more?

Throwing Harriet Miers into the fray at this point gives us an opportunity to see (and legally question) what may be the germination of the earliest criminal plans of the Bush camp.

Harry Reid, by virtue of his membership on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, was regularly and daily informed by Indian Country about all of this. That's why every time I think about Harriet Miers' nomination to SCOTUS, I want to slap Harry Reid on the back and share a laugh. That old dog knew EXACTLY what he was doing.