5/16/15

Purdon, Johnson tackling complicated Indian jurisdictions

As the US Department of Justice continues to investigate the Bendagate saga two former US Attorneys are hard at work litigating issues in Indian Country.
Timothy Purdon of North Dakota and Brendan Johnson of South Dakota both stepped down in March after spending much of their five-plus years as top federal prosecutors tackling crime on tribal lands. Now part of the Minneapolis-based Robbins Kaplan law firm, they're looking to represent tribes around the country on a variety of issues — from gaming rights disputes to commercial ventures and tribal boundaries to natural resources. Purdon is already representing Alexander White Plume, an Oglala Sioux tribal member who has been trying to grow industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. "I told the tribes that they can always call me and I will give them my best advice," Johnson said.
Read it here.

The US Department of Justice has refused to trust South Dakota's GOP attorney general with sensitive information in the EB-5 scandal known as Bendagate. Unsurprisingly, that state's AG has politicized the federal probe of South Dakota's culture of Republican corruption.

American Indians are subject to at least four overlapping jurisdictions making tribes the most regulated people in the US without representatives serving in Congress.

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