Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

Ho-Chunk Nation Tribal Law Profile, Daniel B. Snyder

Tribal Law Journal

In this tribal profile provides an excellent point of reference for practitioners dealing with any legal matter within the Ho-Chunk Nation. Starting with an overview of the legal history of the tribe, including modern government and law, the author examines the traditional legal practices and responsibilities of the Ho-Chunk. Mr. Snyder then explores the modern judicial and legislative branches, and their work to preserve the tribe's traditional laws and customs.

Williams V. Lee And The Debate Over Indian Equality, Bethany Berger

Faculty Articles and Papers

Williams v. Lee (1959) created a bridge between century-old affirmations of the immunity of Indian territories from state jurisdiction and the tribal self-determination policy of the twentieth century. It has been called the first case in the modern era of federal Indian law. Although no one has written a history of the case, it is generally assumed to be the product of a timeless and unquestioning struggle of Indian peoples for sovereignty. This Article, based on interviews with the still-living participants in the case and on examination of the congressional records, Navajo council minutes, and Supreme Court transcripts, records, and …

Williams V. Lee And The Debate Over Indian Equality, Bethany R. Berger

Michigan Law Review

Williams v. Lee (1959) created a bridge between century-old affirmations of the immunity of Indian territories from state jurisdiction and the tribal self-determination policy of the twentieth century. It has been called the first case in the modern era of federal Indian law. Although no one has written a history of the case, it is generally assumed to be the product of a timeless and unquestioning struggle of Indian peoples for sovereignty. This Article, based on interviews with the still-living participants in the case and on examination of the congressional records, Navajo council minutes, and Supreme Court transcripts, records, and …

Sandia Pueblo Tribal Court Handbook (2010), Tribal Law Journal Staff

Tribal Law Journal

This handbook helps take some of the mystery out of practicing in tribal courts. Without the necessary information to learn new rules and protocols many attorneys are understandably reluctant to practice in a new jurisdiction. As a result, tribal courts are underused or misused. This handbook is intended to help attorneys and advocates become more aware of the various individual tribal court systems and to learn their rules and protocol.

Kewa Pueblo Tribal Court Handbook Fka Santo Domingo (2010), Tribal Law Journal Staff

Tribal Law Journal

This handbook helps take some of the mystery out of practicing in tribal courts. Without the necessary information to learn new rules and protocols many attorneys are understandably reluctant to practice in a new jurisdiction. As a result, tribal courts are underused or misused. This handbook is intended to help attorneys and advocates become more aware of the various individual tribal court systems and to learn their rules and protocol.

Tesuque Pueblo Tribal Court Handbook (2010), Tribal Law Journal Staff

Tribal Law Journal

This handbook helps take some of the mystery out of practicing in tribal courts. Without the necessary information to learn new rules and protocols many attorneys are understandably reluctant to practice in a new jurisdiction. As a result, tribal courts are underused or misused. This handbook is intended to help attorneys and advocates become more aware of the various individual tribal court systems and to learn their rules and protocol.

Cochiti Pueblo Tribal Court Handbook (2010), Tribal Law Journal Staff

Tribal Law Journal

This handbook helps take some of the mystery out of practicing in tribal courts. Without the necessary information to learn new rules and protocols many attorneys are understandably reluctant to practice in a new jurisdiction. As a result, tribal courts are underused or misused. This handbook is intended to help attorneys and advocates become more aware of the various individual tribal court systems and to learn their rules and protocol.

Zia Pueblo Tribal Court Handbook (2010), Tribal Law Journal Staff

Tribal Law Journal

This handbook helps take some of the mystery out of practicing in tribal courts. Without the necessary information to learn new rules and protocols many attorneys are understandably reluctant to practice in a new jurisdiction. As a result, tribal courts are underused or misused. This handbook is intended to help attorneys and advocates become more aware of the various individual tribal court systems and to learn their rules and protocol.

Reconciling Equal Protection And Federal Indian Law, Bethany Berger

Faculty Articles and Papers

In this essay for a festschrift in celebration of Philip Frickey and his work, I show how equal protection and federal Indian law can be reconciled without succumbing to what Professor Frickey has called the seduction of artificial coherence. Federal Indian policies increasingly face arguments that, in providing special treatment for individuals and groups defined in part by descent from indigenous tribes, they violate the requirement of equal protection before the law. I argue that such arguments ignore the congruence of federal Indian policy and equal protection as a matter of constitutional norms, constitutional history, and constitutional text. Federal Indian …

Reflections On Recommendation 12, Naiomi Metallic

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Regarding the Marshall Commission Report’s recommendation for increased representation of racialized persons within the judiciary.

Jicarilla Apache Nation Tribal Court Handbook (2009), Tribal Law Journal Staff

Tribal Law Journal

This handbook helps take some of the mystery out of practicing in tribal courts. Without the necessary information to learn new rules and protocols many attorneys are understandably reluctant to practice in a new jurisdiction. As a result, tribal courts are underused or misused. This handbook is intended to help attorneys and advocates become more aware of the various individual tribal court systems and to learn their rules and protocol.

Burrell V. Armijo: The Role Of Comity In Federal Court Review Of Tribal Court Judgments, Erin Garcia

Tribal Law Journal

This article discusses the on-going issue of tribal versus federal judicial power. While tribal courts have been recognized as an important aspect of tribal sovereignty, federal precedent has diluted tribal authority. This dilution of authority is evident by the restriction on jurisdiction given to the tribal courts by the federal government. The author explores this issue using the case of Burrell v. Armijo. She contends that this Tenth Circuit case demonstrates the continued undermining of tribal jurisdiction and that the general rule for federal courts to give great deference to tribal courts was not properly applied, leading to continued weakening …

Cultivating Native Intellect And Philosophy: A Community Symposium, Tribal Law Journal

Tribal Law Journal

Cultivating Native Intellect and Philosophy: A Community Symposium Recognizing and Discussing the Contributions of Christine Zuni Cruz was the title of a March 10 symposium at the University of New Mexico School of Law.

Zuni Cruz's work was discussed in two panel discussions, which focused on Native thought and philosophy in tribal courts and community lawyering.

Restorative Justice In Traditional Pre-Colonial 'Criminal Justice Systems' In Kenya, Sarah Kinyanjui

Tribal Law Journal

Traditional African communities are often said to have embraced restorative values in resolving conflicts and responding to wrongdoing. Through empirical research and analysis of secondary data on the pre-colonial traditional Kamba, Kikuyu and Meru communities in Kenya, this article illustrates how penal practices in these communities embraced restorative justice as understood today. This genealogy of restorative justice in these communities demonstrates the potential of restorative justice as an intervention in crime and its role in meeting overall community goals. By doing so, the genealogy challenges the objectification of retributive justice in modern criminal justice systems, which renders retributive practices as …

Australian Aboriginality And Sociobiology, Allan Ardill

Tribal Law Journal

“It has been argued elsewhere that the colonization, dispossession, and oppression of indigenous Australians have a close nexus with biological determinism, scientific racism, and the ideology known as sociobiology. In the United States similar arguments are made concerning the historic maltreatment meted out to African Americans. In Australia, the concern is with the continuing colonial control over the identity of Australian Aboriginal people.” In his essay Dr. Ardill explores indigenous Australian identity and its “reciprocal relationship with health, education, poverty, (loss of) language, native title, sovereignty and self-determination.” He argues “that the legal reasoning underpinning colonial control over Aboriginal identity …

Southern Ute Tribal Profile, Michael J. Anaya

Tribal Law Journal

An overview of the internal laws of the Southern Ute Tribe.

Reflections On Recommendation 12, Naiomi Metallic

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This article focuses on the Marshall Commission Report’s specific recommendation for increased representation of racialized persons within the judiciary.

Indigenous Legal Traditions, Cultural Rights, And Tierras Colectivas: A Jurisprudential Reading From The Emberá-Wounaan Community, Lauren Koller-Armstrong

Tribal Law Journal

This paper provides an overview of the Emberá-Wounaan indigenous group of Panama in the context of its legal traditions, worldview, and socio-political organization. In addition, this work examines how overlapping systems of tribal law and national Panamanian law have shaped 1) the tribe's geographic boundaries; and 2) environmental management in tribal communities

Shadow War Scholarship, Indigenous Legal Tradition, And Modern Law In Indian Country, Christine Zuni Cruz

Tribal Law Journal

In this essay, Tribal Law Journal Editor-in-Chief Zuni Cruz comments on the purpose of the Tribal Law Journal. She borrows the term "shadow war" from the Zapatistas' use of the Internet as she describes the Journal's endeavor to make Indigenous law explicit and to promote mental sovereignty. She challenges and invites others who write about the law of Indigenous Peoples to join in making legal scholarship in this area accessible to the public, especially the Indigenous public, and to create a depository of thought, rejecting the scattering of thought, by publishing legal scholarship in the global, publicly accessible e-journal, that …

Toda Cambia Y Todo Sigue Siendo Igual (The More Things Change, The More The Stay The Same): How Fifteen Years Later The Constant Threat Of An End To The Zapatistas Continues To Justify Their Means, Pamela Genghini Hernandez

Tribal Law Journal

This article gives a chronological account of the events pre-dating the uprising of January 1, 1994 and the Zapatista struggle through the years. The author examines these events in light of indigenous self-determination, taking into consideration conditions within Mexico, to defend the course of action taken by the EZLN as a means of creating a space for themselves within Mexican society. The author argues the current state of federal Mexican law and international law do not leave Indigenous Peoples, including the EZLN, viable options for resolving injustices committed against them. She also provides an overview of the structure that the …

The Xhosa And The Truth And Reconciliation Commission: African Ways, Douglas H.M. Carver

Tribal Law Journal

The author begins by providing a conceptual framework for indigenous people generally and then focuses on indigenous people in South Africa. Mr. Carver then discusses the culture and customs of the Xhosa, one of the main ethnic groups from the Republic of South Africa. He then discusses the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up in South Africa after the fall of the apartheid regime, which was meant to rebuild a society divided by racial and ethnic lines. The author explains how the Xhosa concept of "ubuntu" – encompassing African concepts of justice, harmony and reconciliation — became a core …

Indian Law Clinics And Externship Symposium Roundtable Discussion: Lawyering For Indigenous People, Tribal Law Journal

Tribal Law Journal

Several native and non-native Indian Law clinicians and scholars participated in a roundtable discussion on June 22, 2007 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to discuss lawyering for indigenous people. The attendees were organized into three different groups: discussants, respondents, and participants. The discussants began the dialogue and discussed their experiences in representing tribes to representing individual native clients in various areas of law. They discussed what it means as a lawyer "to do no harm" and their roles and challenges in teaching students how to serve native populations. The respondents provided their responses to the various topics presented by the discussants. …

Poetry, Law, & Poetry: Some Notes Toward A Unified Theory, Frank Pommersheim

Tribal Law Journal

This work is a beautiful and profound commentary on law. In twenty points, Pommersheim reflects on the nuances of poetry and law. As Pommersheim juxtaposes poetry and law, law and poetry, he reminds us what law is and what it is not.

It is the first contribution to a new section of the Journal which will contain work that crosses law with other disciplines.

Indigenous Peoples And Environmental Justice: The Impact Of Climate Change, Rebecca Tsosie

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

Presenter: Rebecca Tsosie, Professor of Law, Arizona State University

1 page.

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.

Climate Changes And The Poorest Nations: Further Reflections On Global Inequality, Ruth Gordon

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

Presenter: Ruth Gordon, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

3 pages.

Climate Justice: The Next Movement [Outline], Richard J. Lazarus

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

Presenter: Richard J. Lazarus, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

2 pages.

Creating A Roadmap For Achieving Intergenerational Environmental Justice, Clifford Rechtschaffen

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

Presenter: Clifford Rechtschaffen, Professor of Law and Director, JD Environmental Law Program; Co-Director, Environmental Law and Justice Clinic, Golden Gate University School of Law

5 pages.

Agenda: The Climate Of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law

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

On March 16-17, The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock conference gathered 125 academics and practitioners from around the country to consider the pressing issues facing low-income and/or communities of color that continue to be subjected to a disproportionate share of environmental maladies.

"Some people are more equal than others when it comes to bracing ourselves for the impacts of climate change," said conference organizer Professor Maxine Burkett. "Whether it's because poor folks lived in the lowest areas of New Orleans when Katrina floodwaters rushed in, or are less able to afford the cooling bill during increasingly frequent heat waves, …

A Race Or A Nation? Cherokee National Identity And The Status Of Freedmen's Descendants, S. Alan Ray

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article examines the Cherokee Freedmen controversy to assess whether law and biology can function as sufficient models for crafting Cherokee identity at this crucial moment in the tribe's history. The author will argue that while law and biology are historically powerful frames for establishing tribal self-identity, they are inadequate to the task of determining who should enjoy national citizenship. The wise use of sovereignty, the author suggests, lies in creating a process of sustained dialogical engagement among all stakeholders in the definition of Cherokee citizenship on the question of Cherokee identity. This dialogue should ideally have been undertaken before …