BIA Proposes Changes To Land-Into-Trust Process For Tribes
In late 2022, the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) published a new proposed rule on the federal-lands-into-trust process for Native American tribes. The lands-into-trust process is a set of procedures that the BIA uses to acquire title to land and hold it for the use of tribes. This process was established by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and was later interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Carcieri v. Salazar in 2009. The proposed rules appear to be an administrative action to overturn the Supreme Court decision.