Your support empowers Ruby’s NoDAPL case, message from Chase Iron Eyes, Lakota Law

[Frank Cordaro]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Chase Iron Eyes, Lakota Law <in...@lakotalaw.org>
Date: Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 5:30 PM
Subject: Your support empowers Ruby’s NoDAPL 

Dear Frank,

As Big Oil continues to advance its noxious pipeline projects across our ancestral Indigenous lands without our consent, the industry’s legal proxies are advancing a nefarious agenda in the courtrooms. Earlier this week, we told you about attempts by fossil fuel lawyers to dismantle the Indian Child Welfare Act as a first step toward ending tribal sovereignty. And days before that, we shared with you our support of NoDAPL water protector Ruby Montoya, a school teacher who faces potential imprisonment as a domestic terrorist for allegedly poking a few holes in the Dakota Access pipeline.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for backing Lakota Law’s mission to restore justice to our homelands. There has never been a more important moment for us to stand together in defense of all we hold sacred. You’re helping to protect the protectors, whether they be the Indigenous women leading the fight against Line 3 or brave allies like Ruby.

Ruby Montoya (right) and fellow resistor Jessica Reznicek state their case to the press.

Because Lakota Law is not officially representing Ruby, we’re free to help her in other, critical ways. We’re funding her new representation, assisting with media strategy, and amplifying her story. Ruby’s attorney, Daphne Silverman, is reviewing six gigabytes of discovery delivered by the prosecutor last week. The court, in turn, is considering motions from Daphne and deciding whether to let Ruby withdraw her earlier guilty plea — made with prior counsel. 

Daphne’s compelling arguments include highlighting two jurisdictional issues, not confronted by previous counsel, which landed Ruby in federal court. A far overblown estimate by the pipeline company of damage she allegedly caused affects five of her charges. The fact that the pipeline was not actively in use in interstate commerce affects the other four. This is a key moment. 

Should Ruby’s case be removed from federal jurisdiction, she’ll no longer face years in federal prison and a lifetime of being called a domestic terrorist by the U.S. government. For that reason alone, this fight should matter to all of us. Native resistors and our allies already face an uphill climb in every effort to win justice for our people and the planet against the wealth and might of Big Oil. We cannot, in addition, afford to be labeled domestic terrorists and given long prison sentences for peaceful resistance. That’s why your support of this court case is critical. 

Wopila tanka — thank you, sincerely, for standing with Ruby and empowering Lakota Law.
Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director and Lead Counsel
The Lakota People’s Law Project

Lakota People's Law Project
547 South 7th Street #149
Bismarck, ND 58504-5859

The Lakota People's Law Project is part of the Romero Institute, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) law and policy center. All donations are tax-deductible.