Law Commons^™

A Study Of Tribal Communication Frameworks: Some Approaches To Building Partnerships Between Tribal, State, And Local Governments In Virginia, Karly Newcomb, Abigail Sisti

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This paper discusses options the Commonwealth could consider when evaluating decision-making processes that affect tribes in Virginia, with the goal of improving communication and collaboration between tribal, state, and local governments; and will highlight key case studies from other states and localities that provide precedents. The following options are based on a framework of free, prior, and informed consent, which emphasizes self-determination and an individual right to pursue economic, social, and cultural development. This framework can be applied to decision making and projects for any topic. Moving forward, government-to-government communication will be key to developing solutions to pressing issues such …

Tribal Communities And State And Local Governments: Existing Relationships, Mikayla Mangle

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Tribal and state/local governments have maintained a unique and crucial relationship throughout the United States’ history. Today, state and federally recognized Tribes sometimes face obstacles when attempting to implement projects due to state or local government opposition and vice versa. Federally recognized Tribes are sovereign, self-governing entities on equal footing with state governments. State recognized tribes, on the other hand, may not be equal to state governments, depending on the state laws regarding tribal state recognition. State recognized tribes do not have the same benefits as federally recognized tribes in that the tribe’s status is recognized by the state but …

A Most Grievous Display Of Behavior: Self-Decimation In Indian Country, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Vine Deloria, Jr., the greatest indigenous philosopher of his day, wrote Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto in 1969. It was a spirited polemic that both galvanized and inspired Native peoples at home and abroad. Simultaneously, the book's powerful and trenchant words sent shock waves through non-Indian society. Deloria articulated a resurgent indigenous-centered understanding of sovereignty that had largely been suppressed by federal policy and law for nearly a century. Why did he emphasize the word "sovereignty"? Because he knew that Native nations needed to employ such concepts since they were familiar to both federal and state …

Slides: The Future Of Energy: What Are The Major Projections For The U.S. Energy Future, And What Are The Implications For The West?, Gary Bryner

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Gary Bryner, Brigham Young University, Department of Political Science

9 slides

Agenda: Shifting Baselines And New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, And The Transformation Of The American West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

The Center’s 29th annual conference will focus on the changes in the West resulting from rapid population growth, development, disrupted historical weather patterns and the effects of those changes on land, water, and energy resources. Speakers and panelists will address the adaptability of the legal and political institutions and how the transformation of the West may foreshadow fundamental changes to these institutions.

The agenda includes panel discussions that will address:

• Water for the 21^st Century —the big questions in Western water and rethinking Western water law.
• The Future of Energy —practical and sophisticated solutions to overcome the energy …

Action On Global Warming: Making Room For Tribal Governments In The New Kind Of Wedge Issue, Dean B. Suagee

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Dean B. Suagee, Of Counsel, Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker LLP, Washington, D.C.

1 page.

Visionary Thinker And Wordsmith Par Excellence, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

I was part of a small cohort of Native students, thrilled at the possibility of studying with a man we affectionately, and with some trepidation, referred to as "the Godfather" of Indian politics, policy and law. We called ourselves "Vine's Disciples," not because he was a religious figure, but because we sensed that in having the privilege and opportunity studying with the individual we all considered the most gifted of our time, that we would receive profound lessons in what was required of us as we sought to become active and informed defenders of indigenous nationhood.

What an influence he …

Indigenous Voices And American Politics, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

President [Bush], in a convoluted response to a question on the meaning of tribal sovereignty (essentially the inherent right of indigenous nations to self-governance) posed by a minority journalist on August 6, told the 7,500 assembled journalists that "tribal sovereignty means that it's sovereign. You're a—you've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities."

Nevertheless, these two statements by the leading presidential candidates are big deals for Indian nations. They provide a measure of overt national political recognition for several of the most …

Justice Thomas And Federal Indian Law: Hitting His Stride?, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

It was Justice [Clarence Thomas], the lone African American, whose voting record on Indian cases is more anti-Indian than even Rehnquist or Scalia, who in his concurring opinion, made several critical points that were most telling. Thomas will never be mistaken for Thurgood Marshall, who wrote several affirmative Indian law rulings, and his intention in crafting his opinion in this case was almost certainly not meant to be transparently supportive of tribal sovereignty. Yet he identified several enigmas in law and policy that, if acted upon by tribal, state and federal policymakers, might lead to a clearer status for indigenous …

Five Hundred Sixty Nations Among Us: Understanding The Basics Of Native American Sovereignty, Stephen Brimley

Maine Policy Review

Stephen Brimley presents a general background on the historical context of Native American tribal sovereignty on the national level, and the current political and legal environment in which tribal rights are defined. He describes how tribes have retained varying degrees of the rights they had prior to European contact, and the ways in which state power over tribes has been expanded through court action in the past several decades. Maine’s Native American groups are in a somewhat unique situation with regard to sovereignty, as defined in the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act of 1980.

Justice And Natural Resources: Concepts, Strategies, And Applications, Kathryn M. Mutz, Gary C. Bryner, Douglas S. Kenney

Books, Reports, and Studies

This digital resource contains only an abstract, cover image and table of contents information from the published book.

Print copy of book is available in the University of Colorado's Wise Law Library: http://128.138.161.92/record=b257401

Contents: PART ONE : FRAMEWORKS: Beyond "traditional" environmental justice / David H. Getches, David N. Pellow -- Assessing claims of environmental justice : conceptual frameworks / Gary C. Bryner -- Water, poverty, equity, and justice in Colorado : a pragmatic approach / James l. Wescoat Jr., Sarah Halvorson, Lisa Headington, Jill Replogle -- International environmental protection : human rights and North-South divide / Tseming Yang -- PART …

Acquiring Water For Tribes, Susan M. Williams

Two Decades of Water Law and Policy Reform: A Retrospective and Agenda for the Future (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

16 pages.

Contains references (page 15).

The Reinvigoration Of The Doctrine Of Implied Repeals: A Requiem For Indigenous Treaty Rights, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

America's indigenous nations occupy a distinctive political within the United States as separate sovereigns whose rights in the doctrine of inherent tribal sovereignty, affirmed in hundreds of ratified treaties and agreements, acknowledged in the Commerce the U.S. Constitution, and recognized in ample federal legislation case law. Ironically, while indigenous sovereignty is neither ally defined or delimited, it may be restricted or enhanced by One could argue, then, that indeterminacy or inconsistency of the tribal-federal political/legal relationship.

[Introduction To] American Indian Sovereignty And The U.S. Supreme Court: The Masking Of Justice, David E. Wilkins

Bookshelf

"Like the miner's canary, the Indian marks the shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere and our treatment of Indians, even more than our treatment of other minorities, reflects the rise and fall in our democratic faith, wrote Felix S. Cohen, an early expert in Indian legal affairs.

In this book, David Wilkins charts the "fall in our democratic faith" through fifteen landmark cases in which the Supreme Court significantly curtailed Indian rights. He offers compelling evidence that Supreme Court justices selectively used precedents and facts, both historical and contemporary, to arrive at decisions that have …

The Cloaking Of Justice: The Supreme Court's Role In The Application Of Western Law To America's Indigenous Peoples, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The debate over which legal Indigenous Peoples should govern Native American political power and property rights, or even whether they should be protected by law at all, caused conflicts challenging the autonomy of the legal system and led to changes of the original principles of Indian rights. The outcome of that conflict raises two questions of federal Indian law. One is where its principles contributed to the survival of Native Americans in the United States; the other is whether the same legal principles are responsible for the perpetual inferiority of Natives Americans in their own land. More starkly, the question …

Taxation In Indian Country, Richard B. Collins

Natural Resource Development in Indian Country (Summer Conference, June 8-10)

11 pages.

Constitution And Bylaws Of The Three Affiliated Tribes Of The Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota, George W. Grinnell, Arthur Mandan, Peter H. Beauchamp

US Government Documents related to Indigenous Nations

This document, published October 12 1936, is the Constitution and Bylaws of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota. This constitution was drafted in response to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act) which purported to give Indigenous tribes in the United States more freedom to self-govern. This document outlines tribal sovereignty and governing issues including territory, membership, governing body, nominations and elections, vacancies and removal from office, powers, referendum, land, amendments, officer duties, salaries, meetings of council, and adoption of constitution and bylaws. The constitution is signed by George W. Grinnell …