Wampum

Maria Jacobsen is a member of the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians, one of the Chumash tribes. In 2002 the Santa Ynez Band adopted a resolution declaring that the custom and tradition of the tribe is that resources of the Band held by enrolled members of the Band should not be provided, distributed or allocated to nonmember spouses of Tribal members or nonmember ex-spouses of Tribal members in the form of spousal support awards. Her ex-spouse has obtained a support order from a California family court. Ms. Jacobsen appealed the support order, joined by the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians and several other Indian tribes which filed a supporting amicus brief, arguing that tribal customs and resolutions are appropriate equitable factors to be considered in setting spousal support. Federal law requires States to accord full force and effect to tribal ordinance or custom unless the ordinace or custom is inconsistent with applicable civil law.

The Chumash Indian population was decimated in the 1700s and 1800s by the Spanish mission system, which seized the 7,000 square mile Chumash territory from Malibu to Paso Robles inland to the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley. After mission secularization in 1834, lands formerly under mission control were given to Spanish families loyal to the Mexican government. No lands were returned to the Chumash. During the Anglo period up until the very recent present, the Chumash economy was defined by menial work-for-hire on area farms and ranches, distinguishable from the Chinese and the later Japanese work-for-hire populations only by having even less social status than immigrants, even from Asia.

At no point, from the mission period, through secularization to the end of the Mexican period, the early Anglo period to the present, until this case, In re Marriage of Jacobsen, 04 S.O.S. 4738, has a claim been made to alienate the remaining land or wealth of members of the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians, as the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians had, like all California Indian Bands, little land and even less wealth to alienate. At no point during each of these legal regimes -- Spanish, Mexican, and American, did a Chumash Indian ever recover alienated Chumash land through marriage to a non-Indian.

Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert, writing for the Court of Appeal, wrote that the Santa Ynez Band resolution was "inconsistent with public policy", citing "a mutual duty of support inherent in marriage" ... "that continues after separation, subject to the family court's broad discretion and the supporting spouse's ability to pay."

Maria Jacobsen's per-capita payment from the tribal gaming operation is $300,000/yr. Judge Gilbert argued that the distributed funds were deposited by Jacobsen in personal bank or investment accounts, so there are no issues of tribal immunity involved, and upheld the Family Court support order of more than $7,400 monthly in temporary spousal support to her former husband.

If a tribal resource is under the control of a member indian, it can be alienated. Where have you heard that before?