Federal Acknowledgment of American Indian Tribes

This proposed rule seeks input on continuation of an express prohibition on re-petitioning under the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (Department) regulations for Federal acknowledgment of Indian Tribes. When first promulgated in 1978, the acknowledgment regulations did not provide a regulatory path that allowed re- petitioning, and since 1994, the regulations have expressly prohibited petitioners who have received a negative final determination from the Department from re-petitioning (ban). The most recent update to the regulations in 2015 continued this ban, but two Federal district courts held that the Department’s stated reasons for implementing the ban, as articulated in the 2015 final rule updating the regulations (2015 final rule), were arbitrary and capricious, and remanded to the Department for further consideration. The Department has undertaken further consideration and is proposing to maintain the ban, albeit with revised justifications, in light of the Federal district courts’ orders. The Department seeks input on this proposal and the basis for its proposal.