Law Commons^™

Fraying The Knot: Marital Property, Probate, And Practical Problems With Tribal Bans, Suzianne D. Painter-Thorne

Articles

In the summer of 2015, marriage equality advocates celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state prohibitions on same-sex marriage.The Court found that “[t]he right of same-sex couples to marry . . . is part of the liberty promised by the Fourteenth Amendment.” Two years earlier, the Court had struck down parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), finding that the federal government could not discriminate against same-sex married partners. With these two decisions, the Court ensured that the marriages of same-sex couples would be recognized by the federal government and in …

A Strange Kind Of Identity Theft: How Competing Definitions Of "Indian" May Deny Individual Identity, Suzianne D. Painter-Thorne

Articles

To the extent we think about it all, most of us believe what our parents tell us about where we came from-about who our grandparents are, who our ancestors were, our ethnic background, our family histories. My own family story includes claims to Scottish, Irish, French, and English ancestry. It also includes the Cherokee great-grandmother so popular in American genealogical stories. I have not undertaken an extensive genealogical search to more accurately pinpoint the threads of my ancestral quilt; I have simply accepted the family lore without much thought to whether it was verifiable.

My family's claimed link to the …

Tangled Up In Knots: How Continued Federal Jurisdiction Over Sexual Predators On Indian Reservations Hobbles Effective Law Enforcement To The Detriment Of Indian Women, Suzianne D. Painter-Thorne

Articles

Consequently, tribal lands have become safe havens for sexual predators, who can commit their offenses with little fear of prosecution. As Fort Peck Tribal Chairman A.T. “Rusty” Stafne explained, “Our people are afraid because there are persons committing crimes against us at night and in broad daylight....We have criminals that are simply unafraid of prosecution.” Indeed, “[t]o a sexual predator, the failure to prosecute sex crimes against American Indian women is an invitation to prey with impunity.”

Congress has responded to the epidemic of reservation crime with the Tribal Law and Order Act27 (TLOA). But, as this article explains, the …

If You Build It, They Will Come: Preserving Tribal Sovereignty In The Face Of Indian Casinos & The New Premium On Tribal Membership, Suzianne Painter-Thorne

Articles

This Article considers recent disputes over membership decisions made by American Indian tribal governments. Since Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, Indian casinos have flourished on some tribal reservations. Some argue that the new wealth brought by casinos has increased fights over membership as tribes seek to expel current members or refuse to admit new members. It is difficult to discern whether there are more disputes over tribal enrollment as a consequence of gaming or whether such disputes are now more public because gaming has brought tribes to the forefront of U.S. culture. What is clear is …