US High Court says COVID aid goes to Alaska Native corporations

Supreme Court rules Alaska Native Corporations are federally recognised tribes in Indigenous COVID aid dispute.

The US Supreme Court on Friday ruled that federal COVID-19 relief funds can go to specially created corporations for Indigenous Alaskans even though they are not officially recognized as tribal governments in a case pitting groups of Indigenous Americans against each other. The justices ruled 6-3 that the Indigenous corporations are eligible to receive funding intended for tribal governments under the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act. About $533m in funding hinged on the case’s outcome. Three groups of Native American tribes from other parts of the US sued in federal court in Washington in April 2020 seeking to prevent what are known as Alaska Native corporations (ANC) from receiving any of the funds.