Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation v. Mnuchin
| Decision Date | 26 June 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 20-cv-01002 (APM), Case No. 20-cv-01070 (APM), Case No. 20-cv-01059 (APM) |
| Citation | 471 F.Supp.3d 1 |
| Parties | CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF the CHEHALIS RESERVATION, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Steven MNUCHIN, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Treasury, Defendant. Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Steven Mnuchin, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Treasury, Defendant. Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Plaintiff, v. Steven Mnuchin, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Treasury, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, Riyaz A. Kanji, Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, for Plaintiffs Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Tulalip Tribes, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Asa'carsarmiut Tribe, Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, Pueblo of Picuris, California Elk Valley Rancheria, San Carlos Apache Tribe, Quinault Indian Nation.
Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, William Kenneth Walker, Walker Reausaw, Washington, DC, Riyaz A. Kanji, Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, for Plaintiff Akiak Native Community.
Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, Wesley James Furlong, Native American Rights Fund, Anchorage, AK, Paul W. Spruhan, Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Window Rock, AZ, Riyaz A. Kanji, Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, for Plaintiff Navajo Nation.
Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Rose Michele Weckenmann, Pro Hac Vice, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, Riyaz A. Kanji, Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, Wesley James Furlong, Native American Rights Fund, Anchorage, AK, for Plaintiff Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
Jennifer Bear Eagle, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge, SD, Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, Riyaz A. Kanji, Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, Wesley James Furlong, Native American Rights Fund, Anchorage, AK, for Plaintiff Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Matthew Newman, Pro Hac Vice, Megan Rachel Condon, Natalie A. Landreth, Wesley James Furlong, Native American Rights Fund, Anchorage, AK, Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, Riyaz A. Kanji, Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, for Plaintiff Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
Matthew Newman, Pro Hac Vice, Wesley James Furlong, Native American Rights Fund, Anchorage, AK, Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, for Plaintiffs Nondalton Tribal Council, Artic Village Council, Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government.
Frances C. Bassett, Pro Hac Vice, Jeffrey S. Rasmussen, Pro Hac Vice, Jeremy J. Patterson, Pro Hac Vice, Patterson Earnhart Real Bird & Wilson LLP, Louisville, CO, Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Big Fire Law & Policy Group LLP, Bellevue, NE, Riyaz A. Kanji, Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, Rollie Wilson, Patterson Earnhart Real Bird & Wilson LLP, Washington, DC, Wesley James Furlong, Native American Rights Fund, Anchorage, AK, for Plaintiff Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation.
Jason C. Lynch, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendant.
Amit P. Mehta, United States District Court Judge Under Title V of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, Congress appropriated $8 billion for "Tribal governments" to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This consolidated case concerns who qualifies as a "Tribal government" under the CARES Act. Plaintiffs are a group of federally recognized tribes from the lower 48 states and Alaska; they ask this court to permanently enjoin the Secretary of the Treasury from making Title V payments to Alaska Native regional and village corporations, or ANCs. ANCs are not federally recognized tribes; rather, they are for-profit corporations established by Congress in 1971 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and recognized under Alaska law.
The CARES Act defines "Tribal governments" to mean "the recognized governing body of an Indian Tribe." The Act in turn defines "Indian Tribe" by cross-referencing the definition of that term in another statute: the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. In Plaintiffs’ view, ANCs do not meet the statutory definition of either "Indian Tribe" or "Tribal government." The Secretary of the Treasury, whom Congress vested with authority to allocate Title V funds, on the other hand, reads the CARES Act to allow payment of Title V funds to ANCs. The court previously agreed with Plaintiffs, at least tentatively, and preliminarily enjoined the Secretary from distributing CARES Act funds to ANCs. See Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation v. Mnuchin , Case No. 20-cv-1002 (APM), 456 F.Supp.3d 152 (D.D.C. April 27, 2020) (" Confederated Tribes "). In that decision, the court found that Plaintiffs would be irreparably harmed absent emergency relief, and that they had established a substantial likelihood of success on the merits.
The matter is before the court on cross-motions for summary judgment. Although the court initially determined that Plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim, after reviewing the parties’ arguments on summary judgment, the court now holds that ANCs are "Indian Tribes," and that their boards of directors are "Tribal governments," for purposes of the CARES Act. Accordingly, ANCs are eligible to receive Title V funds. As a result, the court dissolves the preliminary injunction and enters judgment in favor of Defendants.
A. Background
The court begins with a brief overview of the relevant statutes and the history of this case.1
Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act"), Pub. L. No. 116-136, 134 Stat. 281 (2020), to respond to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Title V of the CARES Act, the title relevant here, appropriates $150 billion for fiscal year 2020 for "payments to States, Tribal governments, and units of local government." 42 U.S.C. § 801(a)(1). Of that sum, $8 billion is "reserve[d] ... for making payments to Tribal governments." Id. § 801(a)(2)(B). Congress directed the Secretary of the Treasury ("Secretary") to disburse those monies to "Tribal governments" within 30 day of the law's enactment, or by April 26, 2020. § 801(b)(1).
The CARES Act defines "Tribal government" as "the recognized governing body of an Indian tribe." Id. § 801(g)(5). The Act further provides that "[t]he term ‘Indian Tribe’ has the meaning given that term" in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. § 5304(e). Id. § 801(g)(1). The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, or ISDEAA, defines "Indian tribe" as "any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) [ 43 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq. ("ANCSA") ], which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians." 25 U.S.C. § 5304(e). The court refers to "Alaska Native ... regional or village corporation[s]" in this opinion as ANCs.
Congress enacted ISDEAA in 1975 "to help Indian tribes assume responsibility for aid programs that benefit their members." Menominee Indian Tribe of Wis. v. United States , ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S. Ct. 750, 753, 193 L.Ed.2d 652 (2016). Under ISDEAA, federally recognized Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortiums can choose to have the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provide direct services, or they can operate the programs themselves by entering into "self-determination contracts" with these federal agencies to provide services that otherwise would have been provided by the federal government, such as education, law enforcement, and health care. 25 U.S.C. § 5321(a)(1) ; see also Menominee Indian Tribe of Wis. , 136 S. Ct. at 753. A contracting tribal organization is eligible to receive the amount of money that the federal government would have otherwise spent on the program, see 25 U.S.C. § 5325(a)(1), as well as reimbursement for reasonable "contract support costs," which include administrative and overhead costs associated with carrying out the contracted programs, id. § 5325(a)(2), (3)(A). ISDEAA was amended in 1988, 1994, and 2000, and now includes health care programs administered by the Indian Health Service. See Pub. L. 100-472 (Oct. 5, 1988); Pub. L. 103-413 (Oct. 25, 1994); Pub. L. 106-260 (Aug. 18, 2000).
Congress instructed the Secretary to distribute Title V funding quickly—within 30 days of the law's enactment. So, on April 13, 2020, shortly after the CARES Act became law, the Secretary published on the Treasury Department's website a form titled "Certification for Requested Tribal Data," which sought certain data to effectuate disbursement of CARES Act funds. See Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Pls.’ Mot. for TRO & Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 3, Decl. of Riyaz Kanji, Ex. 2, ECF No. 3-8 [hereinafter Certification], at 15–16. The Certification identified metrics specific to ANCs. ANCs are not federally recognized Indian tribes but are for-profit corporations established by Congress under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. See 43 U.S.C. §§ 1606, 1607. The metrics specific to ANCs identified by the Secretary included "shareholders" as of January 1, 2020, and total land base, which expressly included lands "selected pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act." Certification.
The Certification's posting prompted three groups of Tribes to bring suit against the Secretary under the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), challenging the Secretary's anticipated treatment of ANCs as eligible for Title V funding. Id. On April 17, 2020, the Confederated...
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