And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 10:36:45 EDT Subject: Court Seeks Views on Indian Case Court Seeks Views on Indian Case .c The Associated Press By LAURIE ASSEO WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court today sought the Clinton administration's views on a lawsuit by a Hopi Indian tribe member in Arizona who says an electric power plant on the Navajo reservation illegally refused to hire him because he is not Navajo. The court said it wants to hear from Justice Department lawyers before acting on an appeal in which the plant operator argued that federal law allows non-Indian employers doing business on a reservation to give hiring preference to members of that reservation's tribe. A federal appeals court ruled that the Hopi's lawsuit should go to trial. The Navajo Generating Station is operated by the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, an Arizona quasi-government body. The district's lease with the tribe requires it to give job preference to ``qualified local Navajos.'' Harold Dawavendewa, a Hopi Indian who lives near the Navajo reservation, applied for a job at the plant in 1991. He ranked ninth among the top 20 applicants in an employment test, but said he was not further considered for the job because he was not a Navajo or married to a tribe member. Dawavendewa sued, saying the district violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars job bias on grounds of race, sex, religion or national origin. A federal judge threw out the lawsuit. Title VII includes language exempting tribal preferences, the judge said. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Dawavendewa's lawsuit. The exemption in Title VII does not permit preferences based on which tribe someone belongs to, the appeals court said. The appeals court also said hiring preferences allowed by a separate law, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, did not apply to the power plant job. In the appeal acted on today, the Salt River district's lawyers said the 9th Circuit court's ruling means tribes no longer can require on-reservation employers to give preference to tribe members. Dawavendewa's lawyers said federal law allows tribes, but not other employers, to give preference to their own tribal members in limited circumstances. The case is Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District vs. Dawavendewa, 98-1628. AP-NY-06-07-99 1036EDT Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
