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Brief For Barbara L. Creel And The Tribal Defender Network, Us V. Bryant, Barbara L. Creel, John Lavelle

Faculty Scholarship

Although Congress intended to protect women in Indian Country from domestic abuse, they condoned the use of prior “uncounseled” tribal court convictions to charge and convict an Indian as a federal habitual domestic violence offender.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote Bryant, denigrates Indian people’s civil rights, citing the need to protect Native women from domestic violence. But Department of Justice statistics show most domestic violence perpetrators in Indian country are non-Indians, and the Bryant decision leaves intact their constitutional rights, including the right to appointed counsel.