On September 30, 2024, in a unanimous, precedential opinion, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that the Lower Sioux Indian Community’s sovereign immunity precludes the State of Minnesota from subpoenaing tribal social workers to testify at State criminal and juvenile trials.

Hogen Adams represented the Lower Sioux Community in the consolidated appeal from two district court orders declining to quash subpoenas directed to four Lower Sioux social workers. In reaching the decision, the Court of Appeals held that Public Law 280 did not abrogate Lower Sioux’s sovereign immunity from suit and that subpoenas constitute “suits” for sovereign-immunity purposes. Finally, the Court of Appeals ruled that the Lower Sioux social workers are tribal officials protected by tribal sovereign immunity.

Vanya Hogen led the firm’s associates—Samantha Hermsen, Lorenzo Gudino, and Ellen Currier—in this victory for the firm’s client. The consolidated cases are In the Matter of the Welfare of: J.A.D. (A24-0317) and State v. Jordan (A24-0319). You can find the opinion here.