NJ Superior Court Rules Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape are Sovereign Tribe

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NJ Superior Court Rules Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape are Sovereign Tribe
Judge rules Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape’s civil rights violation lawsuit against the state of New Jersey for denying its status can proceed


In the latest round of Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation vs New Jersey, the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division reversed a Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division decision to dismiss the tribe’s case, thereby giving the 3,000-member Tribal Nation a green light to proceed in its civil rights lawsuit against New Jersey’s Attorney General John Hoffman, who told the federal government that the tribe was not considered a “recognized” tribal nation.
The Appellate Court also ruled and publicly affirmed that the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation are “a constitutionally organized, self-governing, inherently sovereign American Indian tribe.”

How did it get here?

The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, Powhatan Renape, and Ramapough Lenape have been recognized by the state of New Jersey for 35 or more years. The Nanticoke-Lenape, whose 3,000 citizens are economically distressed, relied on basic federal benefits tied to its status, including grants for diabetes care and education, and the ability to label their crafts as “Indian made.” This changed for the worst in 2012, thanks to a two-sentence email sent by a staffer at the New Jersey Commission on American Indian Affairs to the federal government’s General Accounting Office in 2011. The email incorrectly said New Jersey had no recognized tribes. The situation was further inflamed by then-acting AG Hoffman, who told the federal government that the tribe was not considered a “recognized” tribal nation. Former AG Hoffman is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit. This resulted in the federal government considering all three New Jersey tribes to just be “social groupings” without formal state recognition.




In July 2015, the tribe filed a five-count civil rights complaint alleging that the New Jersey Attorney General “violated its civil rights under the New Jersey Constitution and breached duties imposed under the common law”. The tribe had also alleged that the AG’s actions “have and will deprive it of benefits under various federal statutes and programs.” “This is not just about the tribe’s ability to economically sustain itself, it’s about their dignity and it’s about — after 200 years of being treated terribly by the colonies and then by the state – there was a period beginning in the 80s where the relationship turned,” Gregory Werkheiser, a civil rights attorney with Cultural Heritage Partners representing the tribe, explained to NJ.com.



“We are in the midst of an incredible national conversation about race in this country and, by and large, it’s a mature conversation. That is not the case today in New Jersey, where this administration is simply closing its eyes and pretending whole swaths of people do not exist.”
The lawsuit further alleged that the reason the Nanticoke-Lenape were now not being recognized is due to a “racial-stereotype-driven and irrational fear that any American Indian Tribe, if recognized as such, will seek to conduct gaming in competition with New Jersey’s politically powerful non-Indian gaming interests.”

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https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/nj-superior-court-rules-nanticoke-lenni-lenape-sovereign-tribe/?mqsc=ED3906952