Priests of the Sacred Heart
In January 2012 the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that it would hear the lawsuit against Priests of the Sacred Heart for alleged abuses at St. Joseph's and not apply HB1104 retroactively to their cases. Although the Institute is based near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Milwaukee does not have any authority over it. The religious order operates independently, as have others that have run mission and boarding schools throughout Indian country.