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Full-Text Articles in Law

Cultural Resources, Conquest, And Courts: How State Court Approaches To Statutory Interpretation Diminish Indigenous Cultural Resources Protections In California, Hawai‘I, And Washington, Lauren Ashley Week Sep 2022

Cultural Resources, Conquest, And Courts: How State Court Approaches To Statutory Interpretation Diminish Indigenous Cultural Resources Protections In California, Hawai‘I, And Washington, Lauren Ashley Week

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Critical Race Theory identifies two of the United States’ original sins: slavery and conquest; yet, while the former is well known, the latter is simultaneously obvious and unknown, creating a disconnect between the history of violent conquest to the disparities that continue to afflict indigenous communities today. This lack of understanding and acknowledgement also permeates the federal courts—an issue extensively documented by Critical Race Theory and federal Indian law academics. Yet, limited scholarship has interrogated if and how state judicial systems may parallel the failures of federal benches. This Note examines the “hidden,” yet enduring impact of conquest by applying …


Nature’S Rights, Christiana Ochoa Sep 2021

Nature’S Rights, Christiana Ochoa

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Do forests and rivers possess standing to sue? Do mountain ranges have substantive rights? A recent issue of The Judges’ Journal, a preeminent publication for American judges, alerts the bench, bar, and policymakers to the rapidly emerging “rights of nature,” predicting that state and federal courts will increasingly see claims asserting such rights. Within the United States, Tribal law has begun to legally recognize the rights of rivers, mountains, and other natural features. Several municipalities across the United States have also acted to recognize the rights of nature. United States courts have not yet addressed the issue, though in 2017, …


Litigating For The Homeland: An Indian Treaty Framework To Climate Litigation In The Wake Of Juliana, Evan Neustater Sep 2020

Litigating For The Homeland: An Indian Treaty Framework To Climate Litigation In The Wake Of Juliana, Evan Neustater

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Climate change is an increasingly pressing issue on the world stage. The federal government, however, has largely declined to address any problems stemming from the effects of climate change, and litigation attempting to force the federal government to take action, as highlighted by Juliana v. United States, has largely failed. This Note presents the case for a class of plaintiffs more likely to succeed than youth plaintiffs in Juliana—federally recognized Indian tribes. Treaties between the United States and Indian nations are independent substantive sources of law that create enforceable obligations on the federal government. The United States maintains a …


Customary Law Of Indigenous Communities: Making Space On The Global Environmental Stage, Melissa L. Tatum Mar 2020

Customary Law Of Indigenous Communities: Making Space On The Global Environmental Stage, Melissa L. Tatum

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The high stakes often involved in controversies regarding who owns valuable natural resources and who has the authority to regulate environmental contaminants have resulted in fierce legal battles and struggles to establish and define international principles of law. Grand theoretical debates have played out on the international stage regarding the principle of free, prior, and informed consent and the legal contours of corporate social responsibility. Meanwhile, often under the radar, Indigenous people around the world have worked to create a sustained niche for their community and culture in the face of exploitation and environmental devastation at the hands of the …


Examining The Administrative Unworkability Of Final Agency Action Doctrine As Applied To The Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, Adam Gerken May 2019

Examining The Administrative Unworkability Of Final Agency Action Doctrine As Applied To The Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, Adam Gerken

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The application of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (“NAGPRA”) creates unique practical and doctrinal results. When considering the application of the current law concerning judicial review of final agency action under the APA to NAGPRA, it is evident that the law is simultaneously arbitrary and unclear. In the Ninth Circuit’s holding in Navajo Nation v. U.S. Department of the Interior, the Court applied final agency action doctrine in a manner that was legally correct but administratively unworkable. The Court’s opinion contravenes both the reasoning behind the APA final agency action …


Whose Standards Control? Maine V. Mccanhy And The Federal, State, And Tribal Battle Over Water Quality Regulation, Joseph Paul Mortelliti Apr 2017

Whose Standards Control? Maine V. Mccanhy And The Federal, State, And Tribal Battle Over Water Quality Regulation, Joseph Paul Mortelliti

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This Note considers the longstanding clash between the United States government and state governments over the management of intrastate waters through the lens of Maine v. McCarthy, an ongoing federal lawsuit. McCarthy confronts whether the United States Environmental Protection Agency can require state water quality standards to specifically safeguard the health and cultural practices of Maine’s Indian tribes, particularly sustenance fishing. A panoply of legal and political factors gave rise to and shaped the course of the litigation, ranging from tribal sovereignty to agency discretion and political gamesmanship. After evaluating the litigants’ arguments and examining previous regulatory collisions between …


Returning To The Tribal Environmental "Laboratory": An Examination Of Environmental Enforcement Techniques In Indian Country, Elizabeth Ann Kronk Warner Apr 2017

Returning To The Tribal Environmental "Laboratory": An Examination Of Environmental Enforcement Techniques In Indian Country, Elizabeth Ann Kronk Warner

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Governments, including tribes, need to protect one of humankind’s most valuable resources: the environment. In addition to environmental regulations, effective enforcement mechanisms are key to successful efforts to protect the environment. While much has been written about the environmental enforcement mechanisms of states and the federal government, little scholarly attention has been paid to how tribal governments are working to protect their environments. Given that there are 567 federally recognized tribes and approximately 56.2 million acres held in trust for tribes in the United States, such oversight is significant. This Article fills a scholarly void with a description of environmental …


San Manuel'S Second Exception: Identifying Treaty Provisions That Support Tribal Labor Sovereignty, Briana Green Apr 2017

San Manuel'S Second Exception: Identifying Treaty Provisions That Support Tribal Labor Sovereignty, Briana Green

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Inspired by the holding in WinStar World Casino, this Note considers the potential for tribes to make treaty-based arguments when facing the threat of National Labor Relations Board jurisdiction. This Note presents the results of a survey of U.S. government treaties with Native Americans to identify those treaties with language similar to that interpreted by the Board in WinStar World Casino. The survey identified four treaties and four tribes that could make treaty-based arguments like those made in Winstar World Casino: the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Seminole Nation of …


Exploring Alternatives To The "Consultation Or Consent" Paradigm, Jason Searle Apr 2017

Exploring Alternatives To The "Consultation Or Consent" Paradigm, Jason Searle

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The Dakota Access Pipeline brought the question of what adequate tribal consultation requires to the forefront. Some would argue that consultation is a weak standard and that only adopting a new standard of free, prior, and informed consent can guarantee tribes greater control and respect. However, the “consultation or consent” paradigm does not take into account important sources of law that do not fit under “consultation” or “consent” and yet could be valuable in strengthening tribes’ claims in the absence of a consent standard.


We Need Protection From Our Protectors: The Nature, Issues, And Future Of The Federal Trust Responsibility To Indians, Daniel I.S.J. Rey-Bear, Matthew L.M. Fletcher Apr 2017

We Need Protection From Our Protectors: The Nature, Issues, And Future Of The Federal Trust Responsibility To Indians, Daniel I.S.J. Rey-Bear, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The federal trust responsibility to Indians essentially entails duties of good faith, loyalty, and protection. While often thought of as unique to federal Indian policy, it developed from and reflects common law principles of contracts, property, trusts, foreign relations/international law, and constitutional law. However, several issues preclude a greater understanding and implementation of the federal trust responsibility. These include Executive Branch efforts to avoid liability, neocolonial judicial activism, and episodic congressional attention. Enactment of legislation to reaffirm and modernize the federal trust responsibility through greater self-determination, integration, elevation, oversight, and funding should help overcome these issues to improve federal Indian …