Law Commons^™

It Shouldn’T Be This Hard: The Law And Economics Of Business In Indian Country, Adam Crepelle

Utah Law Review

Indian reservation economies have been in shambles for generations. Although some tribes operate successful gaming enterprises, no tribe has a vibrant private sector economy. Law and economics help explain why. Economics is the study of choices, and Indian country’s complex legal rules deter businesses from investing on tribal land. After all, no business wants to spend a year waiting for the federal government to approve a land lease on reservation when land is easily accessible off reservation. Likewise, jurisdictional rules are clear off reservation, but within Indian country, simply determining whether to file a breach of contract suit in tribal, …

Religious Freedom (For Most) Restoration Act: A Critical Review Of The Ninth Circuit’S Analysis In Apache Stronghold, Alex Mcfarlin

Utah Law Review

This Note analyzes sacred site protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) and argues that the Ninth Circuit’s upcoming en banc review of Apache Stronghold is a critical moment for many Indigenous faiths. Against the backdrop of a religious freedom resurgence for other faiths over the past decade, the practitioners in Apache Stronghold face the irreparable loss of identity and culture.

Tribal Cannabis Agriculture Law, Ryan B. Stoa

Utah Law Review

Indian tribes have some freedom to develop their own approach to cannabis agriculture, but what is the nature of that freedom, and how have tribes acted upon it?

This Article investigates the current legal framework surrounding tribal cannabis agriculture and tribal participation in legal cannabis markets. It is generally believed that tribes have some authority to determine the legality of cannabis cultivation on their lands, and to create rules and regulations governing that practice. However, this freedom is nascent and inconsistently granted by the federal government. In addition, the legal frameworks tribes are developing with respect to cannabis agriculture are …

Remembering A Giant—Alex Tallchief Skibine, Elizabeth A. Kronk Warner

Utah Law Review

On February 4, 2023, the world lost a legal giant, as Professor Alex Tallchief Skibine passed away following a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Professor Skibine’s passing was an enormous loss for both our S.J. Quinney College of Law community and the field of Indian Law. Professor Skibine was intellectually curious, funny, and always kind––truly a pillar of our SJQ Law community. I am delighted that this issue of the Utah Law Review is dedicated to his memory.

Indigenizing Grand Canyon, Jason Anthony Robison

Utah Law Review

The magical place commonly called the “Grand Canyon” is Native space. Eleven tribes hold traditional connections to the canyon according to the National Park Service. This Article is about relationships between these tribes and the agency—past, present, and future. Grand Canyon National Park’s 2019 centennial afforded a valuable opportunity to reflect on these relationships and to envision what they might become. A reconception of the relationships has begun in recent decades that evidences a shift across the National Park System as a whole. This reconception should continue. Drawing on the tribal vision for Bears Ears National Monument, this Article advocates …

Indigenous Rights And Climate Change: The Influence Of Climate Change On The Quantification Of Reserved Instream Water Rights For American Indian Tribes, Dylan R. Hedden-Nicely, Lucius K. Caldwell

Utah Law Review

The people indigenous to the Western portion of the lands now referred to as North America have relied on aquatic species for physical, cultural, and spiritual sustenance for millenia. Such indigenous peoples, referred to in the American legal system as Indian tribes, are entitled to water rights for fish habitat pursuant to the Winters Doctrine, which holds that the federal government impliedly reserved water rights for tribes when reservations were created. Recently, the methodology for quantifying these rights has been the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) and/or one of its major components, the Physical Habitat Simulation Model (PHABSIM). These models …

Congressional Power And Sovereignty In Indian Affairs, Michalyn Steele

Utah Law Review

The doctrine of inherent tribal sovereignty—that tribes retain aboriginal sovereign governing power over people and territory—is under perpetual assault. Despite two centuries of precedential foundation, the doctrine must be defended afresh with each attack. Opponents of the doctrine of tribal sovereignty express skepticism of the doctrine, suggesting that tribal sovereignty is a nullity because it is not unfettered. Some pay lip service to the doctrine while undermining tribes in their exercise of inherent sovereignty. Underlying many of these legal fights is confusion about both the nature of tribal sovereignty and the justifications for its continuing existence. Under current federal law, …

Bystander No More? Improving The Federal Response To Sexual Violence In Indian Country, Sarah Deer

Utah Law Review

For better or worse, the federal government has taken responsibility for providing for the protection of Native people. So long as the federal government refuses to allow tribes to govern themselves completely and independently, it is imperative that the federal government enact policies empowering Native survivors of sexual assault. The federal government must do more to protect tribal members from sexual predators, to safeguard reservations not only from career criminals but also to ensure that federal agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Services do not hire men with a history of violence against women or …