First Amendment and Sioux Nation Under Siege

If completed, the $3.8 billion dollar Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) would carry 500,000 barrels of crude oil 1,168-miles southeast from the Bakken shale fields to Illinois. Owned and operated by Energy Transfer Partners, DAPL would threaten the water supplies for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, not to mention their spiritual identity. Since August, DAPL has faced peaceful resistance from the tribe and members of at least 200 indigenous nations and supporters from across the U.S., Canada, South America and Europe.

National interest in events at Standing Rock in remote North Dakota began in early September with jaw dropping warrants for the arrests of Democracy Now! journalist Amy Goodman and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Never mind that at least 12 Native Americans were arrested in August as they peacefully protested the Dakota Access Pipeline with just about zero media coverage. Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II was one of those arrested. The pipeline company proceeded to sue him and other protesters for impeding the project.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/first-amendment-and-sioux_b_12510004.html