LAW360 (Native feed)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rescinded Obama-era regulations that clamped down on methane emissions from new and modified oil and gas infrastructure on Thursday, saying the previous administration didn't legally justify them.

Cook Inlet Region Inc. has urged the D.C. Circuit to uphold a lower court decision that it and other Alaska Native corporations are eligible for part of $8 billion in COVID-19 relief, saying they satisfy a key requirement in the CARES Act that was borrowed from a federal contracting law.

A Northern California county has asked a federal judge to toss an amended lawsuit accusing its officials of improperly seizing $77 million in hemp from a Native American company, saying the hemp was entirely illegal.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has asked the D.C. Circuit not to throw out a certificate for a pipeline that would supply a major liquefied natural gas export project in Oregon, arguing its decision to greenlight the plan doesn't threaten landowners with imminent harm.

Two treaties between the U.S. and the Seneca Nation of Indians from the 18th and 19th centuries don't exempt a tribe member and her husband from taxes on income earned on gravel from tribal land, the Second Circuit said Wednesday.

A New York state judge said he would allow "meaningful public access" to upcoming hearings in the state attorney general's suit alleging that opioid companies fueled the addiction epidemic, after opioid companies protested against livestreaming.

It is necessary in a virtual law firm summer program to think twice about asking questions you may be able to answer on your own, but this independence and other aspects of a remote internship may help to instill habits that would be useful for future full-time associates, says law student Kelley Sheehan, who interned at Patterson & Sheridan this summer.

President Donald Trump's border wall construction threatens ancestral burials and sacred grounds, the tribal nation La Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians said Tuesday in a lawsuit in California federal court seeking to block the construction until protection of their religious practices and cultural heritage is guaranteed.

The U.S. Department of the Interior's recent move to loosen restrictions on the incidental killing of migratory birds illegally departed from decades of established practice and runs counter to the intent of a law designed to protect the creatures, a New York federal judge said Tuesday.

Top Democrats are calling for a criminal investigation into the U.S. Department of the Interior's top lawyer after an inspector general report concluded political appointees withheld documents related to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt during his confirmation hearings last year.

Democratic leaders of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform have asked federal inspectors general to look into agencies' environmental review of the Pebble Mine project in Alaska, saying the process was too hasty and may have put political concerns ahead of science.

A D.C. federal judge has ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to explain what the future holds for the Dakota Access pipeline after the D.C. Circuit undid an order to temporarily shut down and drain the project of oil.

The federal government has shot down the Cayuga Indian Nation's application to put 114 acres of land in upstate New York into trust for gambling, saying the decision stems from tribal members' destruction of buildings controlled by a rival faction and concerns over jurisdictional conflicts.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday urged lawmakers to update a law that governs procedures for federal rulemakings, saying that in its current form, it fails to adequately promote accountability, transparency and public participation and isn't sufficient to deal with modern regulation.

The Eleventh Circuit has upheld a Florida federal judge's decision to toss a Haitian Baptist church's suit alleging the Seminole Tribe of Florida helped a former pastor's widow execute an armed takeover of the church in September 2019.

Following the American Bar Association's recent publication of third-party litigation funding guidance, Jiamie Chen and Dai Wai Chin Feman at Parabellum Capital outline some additional considerations, including the ethical limitations on single-case funding and the futility of economic prenegotiations between attorneys and their clients.

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit ruling that the administration overstepped its authority by transferring $2.5 billion in defense funds for border wall construction.

A group of Texas lawmakers called for the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee to consider a bill that would allow two tribes to offer electronic bingo in the state, saying the legislation would generate much-needed jobs and revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kansas joined a local county, city and tribes Monday to sue the federal government, saying the Department of the Interior was "patently wrong" when it relied on a 1984 law to take land into trust for gambling for the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma in May.

Colorado is urging the Tenth Circuit to uphold a lower court's decision barring the Trump administration's rule narrowing the scope of the Clean Water Act from taking effect in the state, saying it would cause serious environmental damage if reinstated.