PASSED: Cortez Masto, Rounds Legislation to Provide Tribal Courts Access to Electronic Evidence

Washington, D.C. - The United States Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation led by Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to provide Tribal courts the same ability to issue warrants for electronic evidence like emails and social media messages as their non-Tribal counterparts. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives.

"Despite facing high rates of violence, Tribal communities are denied access to essential tools needed to solve crimes," said Senator Cortez Masto. "It's past time for Congress to eliminate this hurdle for Tribal law enforcement. I applaud the Senate passage of this legislation, and I urge my House colleagues to immediately send it to the President's desk."

"It's important that Tribal law enforcement is able to do their job as efficiently as possible," said Senator Rounds. "Our legislation would give Tribal law enforcement another tool to crack down on illegal activity on their lands. Cutting out the red tape and allowing Tribal courts to access evidence on their own is a step in the right direction to making every community safer. I'm pleased that the Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act has passed the Senate and I look forward to continuing our work to get it signed into law."

The bipartisan Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act would amend current law to:

• include courts of federally recognized Tribes as "courts of competent jurisdiction" under the Stored Communications Act;
• require Tribal courts to adhere to warrant procedures described in the Indian Civil Rights Act to access electronic information; and
• recognize Tribes as a government entity under the federal statute.

This bipartisan bill has been endorsed by the National Native American Bar Association, the National American Indian Court Judges Association, and the National Native American Law Enforcement Association.

The full text of the legislation can be found here.

The Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act is part of Senator Cortez Masto's response to the 2023 Not Invisible Act Commission Report, which gave recommendations to lawmakers and the federal government to combat the MMIP crisis. The commission's report was mandated by Cortez Masto's bipartisan Not Invisible Act, which was signed into law in 2020. Following the report, Cortez Masto has pushed both her BADGES for Native Communities Act and her Tribal Warrant Fairness Act,both of which contain Tribal public safety measures endorsed by the commission. The Not Invisible Act Commission Report was removed from the Department of Justice website more than 960 days ago by the Trump administration and has not been restored. Beyond public safety, Cortez Masto has pushed to better health care, maintain voting rights, and deliver tax parity for Tribes.

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