Supreme Court rules that Native Americans prosecuted in tribal courts can also be prosecuted

[elleng]

in federal court.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-rules-that-native-americans-prosecuted-in-tribal-courts-can-also-be-prosecuted-in-federal-court?

[LakeVermilion]

1. How can this not be double jeopardy?

[NutmegYankee]

2. Same reason people can be tried in state courts. Separate sovereigns.

[Dr. Strange]

12. I don't think people are aware of this.

Based on the replies, it looks like people think you can only be tried by state or federal courts, but not both.

[Effete Snob]

14. Which is weird, because no one bats an eyelash at this

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142930181

Suspect in Buffalo grocery massacre charged with federal hate crimes

[NCLefty]

3. It's not because the tribal courts aren't part of our justice system. So WE'RE only trying them once

It does seem messed up though.

[elleng]

4. DISSENT:

In a dissent, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the case involved the same “defendant, same crime, same prosecuting authority” and said the majority’s reasoning was “at odds with the text and original meaning of the Constitution.” The conservative Gorsuch was joined in dissent by two of the court’s three liberal justices, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan.

[Karadeniz]

5. I don't get this. I thought their treaties entitled them to independence within US territory.

[regnaD kciN]

6. And we've ALWAYS honored those treaties...

[elleng]

7. But the justices disagreed.

“Denezpi’s single act led to separate prosecutions for violations of a tribal ordinance and a federal statute.
Because the Tribe and the Federal Government are distinct sovereigns, those” offenses are not the same, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for a majority of the court. “Denezpi’s second prosecution therefore did not offend the Double Jeopardy Clause.”

[Karadeniz]

8. Legal minds seem prone to picking up on the less important logic.

[GregariousGroundhog]

11. They are sovereign, but not independent

The United States is a collection of 50 sovereign states and hundreds of native american tribes. Federal law governs all land in U.S. possession; even if that land is within the boundaries of a state or native american tribe.

[Demsrule86]

9. This is a rogue court for sure.

[Bobstandard]

10. I wonder who wrote that for ACB?

it’s a terrible decision, but I think, knowing her background, that it’s reasonable to expect that she didn’t write it herself. And I don’t mean put the decision into literary shape. She’s on the hook to conservative special interests who think it a favor to hand her the decision and her language. And, if her intitial hearings were any indication, she’d be grateful.

Pack the courts Joe. Seriously. One seat was stolen, others were the result of clear perjury.

[Deuxcents]

13. Agree. This is a terrible decision.