On May 22, 2024, the Oglala Sioux Tribe called for the 7th Judicial Court of South Dakota to uphold federal and state public record laws in its review of a South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiner decision that failed to protect the Tribe’s sovereign immunity. The city of Martin responded to the appeal in early May and the Tribe filed a response on May 22.
“Tribal sovereign immunity is based in the inherent sovereignty of tribal governments. Tribes cannot be forced to waive their own immunity. NARF stands by the Oglala Sioux Tribe in its commitment to protect its tribal sovereign immunity with this appeal,” said Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Staff Attorney Samantha Kelty.
The City of Martin issued a letter demanding the Tribe to pay an unknown amount of exorbitant attorney and administrative fees or waive its sovereign tribal immunity in order to receive public records. While the Examiners’ March 2024 decision found the Tribe’s public records request to be reasonable and required the city to calculate costs according to a set fee schedule, The Tribe is appealing the decision to approve the city’s demand that the Tribe either pre-pay estimated costs or waive tribal sovereign immunity. Such a requirement is contrary to public records laws.
The dispute began after the City of Martin attempted to force a Tribal government employee to pre-pay an unspecified amount of the city’s legal fees to receive copies of public records in 2023. “Typically, a few days after you make a public records request, a city clerk informs you of the total cost of your request to receive a copy. Instead, I received a letter from a private law firm saying if the Oglala Sioux Tribe wanted the public records, we had to pay over $200 per hour for ‘many, many hours’ required for attorneys to work on our request,” said Oglala Sioux In-House Counsel Rae Ann Red Owl.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe is represented by NARF, ACLU of South Dakota, and Public Counsel in the appeal. Both parties will present oral arguments before the 7th Judicial Court in Oglala County in August 2024.
“We will hold the City of Martin accountable for attempting to erect public record barriers that target the Oglala Sioux Tribe and other sovereign tribal governments,” said NARF Staff Attorney Allison Neswood.
More About the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Public Records’ Request
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