Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Indians Tossed From Tribe Can't Seek Habeas Relief

By AVERY FELLOW (CN) - A group of native-American Indians who lost their tribal membership after they could not prove their lineal descent to the tribe's original members cannot seek reenrollment under the illegal detention clause of the Indian Civil Rights Act because they were not detained, the 9th Circuit ruled.

Sixteen former members of the Pechanga Band of the Luiseno Mission Indians filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus after they were removed from the tribe because they could not prove that they descended from the original Pechanga Temecula people.

The San Francisco-based appeals court ruled that the former tribe members could not bring their claims under the Indian Civil Rights Act because they were not detained.  
Read more at Courthouse News Service
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