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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Indigenous Peoples Of The Usa: Issues And Challenges Of Native Americans, David E. Wilkins
The Indigenous Peoples Of The Usa: Issues And Challenges Of Native Americans, David E. Wilkins
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
Vine Deloria, Jr., the most important Indian chronicler of indigenous political, legal, and religious experience in the U.S. in the last thirty years, noted recently that Indian life, particularly the experience of reservation-based tribal peoples, "has only the slightest resemblance to the conditions of three decades ago, and the current situation has elements of hope and portents of disaster." This observation is even more realistic as we sit at the dawn of the new millennium. The 560 indigenous polities in the U.S.—374 Indian nations, tribes, bands, communities, and Pueblos in the lower 48 states; 226 are Alaska Native villages and …
Will Tribes Ever Be Able To "Trust" Their Federal Trustee?, David E. Wilkins
Will Tribes Ever Be Able To "Trust" Their Federal Trustee?, David E. Wilkins
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
It is widely reported that the federal government has a trust relationship with the Indian peoples of this land, one of the many distinctive features of the indigenous/federal relationship. Despite the importance of this concept, legal and political commentators and, surprisingly, federal policy makers have radically conflicting definitions of what the trust relationship actually means.
Quit-Claiming The Doctrine Of Discovery: A Treaty-Based Reappraisal, David E. Wilkins
Quit-Claiming The Doctrine Of Discovery: A Treaty-Based Reappraisal, David E. Wilkins
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
The discovery doctrine is one of the baseline legal concepts that has worked to seriously disadvantage the land rights of indigenous nations in the United States because it asserts, as one of its definitions, that the "discovering" European nations and their successor states, gained legal title to Indian lands in North America. The author argues, using comparative colonial and early American treaty, legislative, and other historical data, that this definition is a legal fiction. In historical reality, discovery was merely an exclusive and preemptive right that vested in the discovering state the right of first purchase.
Tribal-State Affairs: American States As 'Disclaiming' Sovereigns, David E. Wilkins
Tribal-State Affairs: American States As 'Disclaiming' Sovereigns, David E. Wilkins
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
The history of tribal-state political relations has been contentious from the beginning of the republic. As a result of these tensions, the relationship of tribal nations and the federal government was federalized when the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788. Thus, a number of states, especially in the West, were required in their organic acts and constitutions to forever disclaim jurisdiction over Indian property and persons. This article analyzes these disclaimer clauses, explains the factors that have enabled the states to assume some jurisdictional presence in Indian Country, examines the key issues in which disclaimers continue to carry significant weight, …