Law Commons^™

Enforcing Tribal And State Court Civil Judgments In California, Jeremy Freedman

Jeremy Freedman

The purpose of this Note is to bring to light the growing need for a reciprocal approach to cross-jurisdictional enforcement of civil money judgments between California State and Indian tribal courts. In analyzing the issues with enforcement of civil judgments, this Note provides a practical solution that balances comity, sovereign immunity and the need to develop reciprocal solutions to problems created by two societies closely tied to each other. In order to resolve the growing issues affecting state and tribal courts, it is necessary to require reciprocity for enforcement of civil judgments.

Public Law 280 and principles of comity create …

The Promise And Perils Of Renewable Energy On Tribal Lands, Sara C. Bronin

Sara C. Bronin

In theory, the ninety-five million acres of tribal lands in the United States are perfect sites for the renewable energy infrastructure that could help to meet the energy needs of not just tribes, but the rest of the nation. They often have plentiful sunlight, wind, and open space, resources that are important prerequisites for renewable energy production. They are not necessarily governed by the land use or environmental regulations that sometimes inhibit energy projects in more densely populated areas. At the same time, on-site renewable energy may provide direct economic benefits for tribes, including “green jobs,” infrastructure improvements, and production …

Tribes As Essential Partners In Achieving Sustainable Governance, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Indigenous peoples have modeled sustainable development around the world. Incentivizing the innovation and instillation of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources can come in the form of public funding, including renewable portfolio standards, feed in tariffs and green tag programs. This article analyzes ways in which tribal communities are helping to expand cooperative good governance.

Resistance, Resilience, And Reconciliation: Reflections On Native American Women And The Law, Stacy Leeds

Stacy Leeds

Three short stories about three families, the Ladigas, the Danns, and the Conleys, show that the law eventually catches up to social justice if we are willing to persevere with faith and passion in what looks like a losing fight. This essay highlights the experiences of three Native American women and their families and how their families have shaped the law over time. First, Sally Ladiga, a Creek indian, brought suit to quiet title her family's land after the federal government questionably took and sold the land. Ladiga's heirs fought for their land, pushing the United States Supreme Court to …

Blood Quantum, Race, And Identity In Indian Country, Sarah Montana Hart

Sarah Montana Hart

This article discusses how blood quantum laws affect racism and other relations between Indian nations and the United States.

Research In Native American Communities In The Genetics Age: Can The Federal Data Sharing Statute Of General Applicability And Tribal Control Of Research Be Reconciled?, Ron J. Whitener

Ron J. Whitener

Since colonization, the populations indigenous to the United States of America have been an enticing subject for researchers of all types. Geographic continuity with traditional homelands and traceable blood quantum requirements for tribal membership provide a unique connection to the past for researchers studying a broad array of topics from epidemiology to religion. In recent years, the explosion of discoveries in the field of genomic research has led to even greater interest in the United States’ Native communities by both commercial and scientific interests. Firms have sprung up offering genetic tests claiming the ability to detect Native American Ancestry. National …

Legal Fictions And Juristic Truth, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

This Essay cautions against the revisionist trend in legal scholarship to dismiss discredited legal regimes and burdensome statutory schemes as mere "legal fictions." In the first instance, the expansive view of legal fictions employed in this new scholarship dilutes the analytic force of the classic definition proposed by Lon L. Fuller. More importantly, it misapprehends the constitutive power of law and the nature of juristic truth. The classic legal fiction is a curious artifice of legal reasoning. In a discipline primarily concerned with issues of fact and responsibility, the notion of a legal fiction should seem an anathema or, at …

Anticipating De Soto: Allotment Of Indian Reservations And The Dangers Of Land-Titling, Ezra Rosser

Ezra Rosser

This chapter uses the disastrous allotment experience of Indian tribes to question the transformative power of land-titling for the poor as advocated by Hernando de Soto. For Indians, allotment era land-titling resulted in loss of land and hardship, all reflective of non-Indian desires for the land and an unwillingness to acknowledge the rights of Indians to govern themselves. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of the champas of El Salvador and the potential loss in terms of housing for the poor if de Soto’s ideas are implemented without some protection against sales to the wealthy.

Progress Realized?: The Continuing American Indian Mascot Quandary, André Douglas Pond Cummings

andré douglas pond cummings

To some, American Indian mascots represent strength, power, reverence, and dignity. For others, Native American mascots are deeply offensive and mock tradition and sacred culture. Historically, professional and collegiate athletic teams have unabashedly sported American Indian mascots and monikers, and it has not been until recent decades that this issue has arisen as offensive or insensitive. In the past thirty or so years, there have been many high school and university administrations that have voluntarily switched their team mascot and moniker from an American Indian to a race-neutral one. Still, some university administrations and many professional sports franchises strenuously eschew …

Customary Law: The Way Things Were, Codified, Ezra Rosser

Ezra Rosser

Frequently referred to as customary law, the unique traditions and customs of different Native American tribes are cited by their tribal courts as authoritative and binding law. The recent use of customary law as a mechanism for deciding individual cases is not uniform among tribal court systems as it differs depending upon which tribe's judges are working to place custom into contemporary judicial analysis. Understanding the present role of customary law in tribal law requires first understanding the nature of customary law and then understanding how it is being used. The effect of customary law is dependent upon the place …

Correcting Native American Sentencing Disparity Post-Booker, Timothy J. Droske

Timothy J Droske

Native American criminal defendants are subject to disproportionately harsher sentences than similarly situated non-Indian defendants. This is due to the federal government’s exclusive criminal jurisdiction over Native Americans in Indian country for major crimes and the fact that federal sentences tend to be more severe than their state counterparts. Judges and commentators have proposed various means by which to reduce this disparity, but so far, all these proposals have either lacked the political capital to be enacted, or been frustrated by the rigidity of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in United States v. Booker however, rendered …

Matching Actions To Words: The Promotion Of Tribal Soivereignty Through Negotiated Rulemaking, Joseph M. Cottle

Joseph M Cottle

On May 25, 2006, the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) proposed a new definition concerning bingo games and new classification standards for Class II games. The proposed rules likely will require Native American tribes to eliminate their Class II games or enter tribal-state negotiations to conduct Class III games. The process of proposing these rules deprived tribes of sovereignty since the tribes were not able to participate in the drafting of the proposed rules, the rules shift many Class II games to Class III games with weighty economic and political costs to tribes, and the ability to object to game …

Tribal, State, And Federal Cooperation To Achieve Good Governance, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Jurisdictional uncertainty affects tribal sovereignty and public safety. Management of natural resources remains one of the few realms of authority over which tribes have retained control. Ancient wild rice harvesting by the Chippewa provides a context in which to consider a tribes ability to set water standards, as does Pueblo ceremonial use of the Rio Grande River. Cooperative tribal, state, federal, and international responses to the Methamphetamine crisis can address both environmental and human health. This study examines the prospect for integrated protection of health and habitat based upon comity and cooperation. It examines the parameters of homeland security and …

This Land Is My Land, This Land Is Your Land: Markets And Institutions For Economic Development On Native American Reservations, Ezra Rosser

Ezra Rosser

This paper presents the current land regime and nature of economic development found on most Native American reservations, drawing predominantly from the Navajo Nation. It then considers the situation according to (1) neo-classical economics and (2) New Institutional Economics (NIE). The paper begins with the paired assumptions that economic growth can and should reach reservations and that the U.S. and tribal governments can improve upon past performance and institutional arrangements. Policy solutions to reservation commercial and light industrial underdevelopment, corresponding to each economic perspective in turn, are then discussed. The paper broadens the range of policy options available to tribes …

I Fought The Law And The Law Won’: A Report On Women And Disparate Sentencing In South Dakota (With Chris Hutton, And Steve Feimer) [Reprint], Frank Pommersheim

Frank Pommersheim

No abstract provided.

Hallucinations Of Neutrality In The Oregon Peyote Case, Harry F. Tepker Jr.

Harry F. Tepker Jr.

No abstract provided.

Going To The Penitentiary: A Study Of Disparate Sentencing In South Dakota (With Steve Wise), Frank Pommersheim

Frank Pommersheim

No abstract provided.

I Fought The Law And The Law Won’: A Report On Women And Disparate Sentencing In South Dakota (With Chris Hutton, And Steve Feimer), Frank Pommersheim

Frank Pommersheim

No abstract provided.