A federal appeals court has ruled that a California tribe can temporarily ban members without being challenged in federal court.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal Indian Civil Rights Act does not give U.S. courts oversight on temporary bans of members. This wrote the majority “bolsters tribes’ sovereign authority to determine the makeup of their communities and best preserves the rule that federal courts should not entangle themselves in such disputes.”
The case stemmed from a situation where four members of the United Auburn Indian Community in Northern California, which owns Thunder Valley Casino Resort, were banned from the casino and other tribal facilities after they accused the tribal council of fiscal mismanagement and questioned the validity of tribal elections.
The Indian Civil Rights Act lets tribal members challenge detentions in federal court, however the appeals court refused to rule that a temporary ban fit that definition. One of the three judges in the panel disagreed, writing that the ban “severely restrains” the tribal member’s liberty and constituted “detention.”
Although the tribe also withheld casino profits and other benefits from the members, the appeals court ruled that this also did not violate the Act.
