No. 22-2277 ___________________________

Aarin Nygaard

Petitioner - Appellant

Terrance Stanley

Petitioner v. Tricia Taylor; Ted Taylor, Jr.; Jessica Ducheneaux; Ed Ducheneaux; Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court; Brenda D. Claymore, in her official capacity as Chief Judge, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals

Respondents - Appellees

Frank Pommersheim, in his official capacity as Chief Justice

Respondent

The South Dakota Department of Social Services; Todd Waldo, in his official capacity as social worker; Jenny Farlee, in her official capacity as social worker; Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals; Franklin Ducheneaux, Acting Chief Justice of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals in his official capacity

Respondents - Appellees ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of South Dakota - Central ____________ Submitted: February 15, 2023 Filed: August 15, 2023 ____________ Before COLLOTON, BENTON, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ KELLY, Circuit Judge.

Aarin Nygaard filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the District of South Dakota challenging the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court’s exercise of jurisdiction in a custody matter involving his minor daughter, C.S.N. Nygaard claimed that the Tribal Court’s refusal to recognize and enforce North Dakota state- court orders awarding him custody of C.S.N. violated the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA), 28 U.S.C. § 1738A. The district court 1 granted summary judgment to the Tribal Court after concluding that the PKPA does not apply to Indian tribes. Nygaard appeals, and we affirm.

I.

This appeal follows more than nine years of overlapping litigation in state, federal, and tribal courts. The district court deftly summarized that extensive procedural history in its order granting summary judgment to the Tribal Court respondents. 2 See Nygaard v. Taylor, 602 F. Supp. 3d 1172, 1174–84 (D.S.D. 2022). Here, we recount only those facts that are most relevant to this appeal.

1 The Honorable Roberto A. Lange, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of South Dakota. 2 Among the respondents Nygaard named in the underlying habeas action were the following tribal entities and representatives: the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court; the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals; the Chief Judge of the Tribal Court, in her official capacity; and the Chief Justice of the Tribal Court of Appeals, in his official capacity. The first two were dismissed from the case on -2- A.

C.S.N. is the daughter of Nygaard and Tricia Taylor. Taylor and C.S.N. are both enrolled members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and Nygaard is non- Indian. C.S.N. was born in 2013 in Fargo, North Dakota, where Nygaard and Taylor resided at the time. In March 2014, Nygaard sought “primary residential responsibility” of C.S.N. in North Dakota state court, which Taylor opposed. Following mediation, the state court entered an interim order in July 2014 providing, among other things, that Nygaard and Taylor would equally share decision-making and residential responsibility for C.S.N. during the pendency of custody proceedings. The interim order also re