Smith v. Babbitt

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

TUNHEIM, District Judge.

Plaintiffs filed this action in order to challenge the final administrative decision of the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (“IBIA”), an adjudicative body within the United States Department of the Interior (“DOI”), regarding an heirship determination under the White Earth Reservation Land Settlement Act of 1985 (“WELSA”), 100 Stat. 61, as amended 101 Stat. 887, found as a note to 25 U.S.C. § 381. In its decision the IBIA determined that plaintiffs are not the heirs of the decedent, Esther Bellecourt…