On Thursday, the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls Division, heard arguments in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump. NARF was there on behalf of our clients, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes).

At the hearings, the US government argued that the treaties that the United States signed with tribal nations are not relevant to the Keystone XL pipeline. In fact, the treaties were created specifically for this sort of violation.

“When the Tribes negotiated their treaties, they gave millions of acres of land to the United States—including, ironically, the land on which the courthouse now stands. In return, they asked that the United States protect their lands from trespass and their resources from destruction. Today, the Presidents of Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community were in federal court to invoke their sacred inheritance from these treaties—because the KXL pipeline is exactly the kind of depredation the Tribes sought to prevent,” NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth explained after the hearings.

When they entered into treaties with the United States, the tribal nations were working to protect their natural resources (water, grasslands, sacred places, and the great buffalo herds) and keep people from crossing their lands. The United States formally agreed, among other things, to keep outsiders off Lakota (Sioux) and other tribal nations’ territories and protect tribal cultural and natural resources. The 2019 pipeline approval violates both of these provisions.

All the Tribes are asking is that the US government honor the treaties that the president signed and the US Congress ratified. All they are asking is the law be upheld. Neither the president nor wealthy foreign corporations are above the laws of our country.

Treaties are not just an agreement between two sovereign governments. Rather, they are an agreement between the citizens of those sovereigns. If a government violates their agreements, they dishonor not just themselves, but also the people they are representing. 

Do not allow the US government to ignore or forget the agreements made with tribal nations. Don’t let this president dishonor our country. Don’t allow him to dishonor you. You can support the Tribes’ fight for justice. Donate today.