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Bridges To A New Era: A Report On The Past, Present, And Potential Future Of Tribal Co-Management On Federal Public Lands, Monte Mills, Martin Nie

Articles

Deep ancestral and traditional connections tie many Native Nations to the federal government’s public lands. The removal of these lands from indigenous control, their acquisition by the federal government, and the federal government’s approach to their management are largely premised upon the erasure or marginalization of those connections. Both physically and legally, Indian tribes have been removed from the landscapes they occupied since time immemorial. Rather than centering, honoring, and using those connections, the current discussion of tribal co-management of federal public lands is mostly bereft of this full legal and historical context.

Compounding these limitations is the considerable discretion …

Ktunaxa Nation V. British Columbia: A Historical And Critical Analysis Of Canadian Aboriginal Law, Jennifer Mendoza

Washington International Law Journal

Aboriginal law is a developing and emerging area of the law in Canada. In fact, Aboriginal rights were not constitutionally protected until the ratification of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. What followed was a series of precedent-setting cases that clarified what “rights” meant under Section 35 of the Constitution, how Aboriginal title and rights could be established, and what duty the federal government had to the First Nations when trying to infringe on those rights. In 2017, the Canadian Supreme Court heard Ktunaxa Nation v. British Columbia, which was the first case to interpret Aboriginal rights under Section 2(a) religious …

Beyond The Belloni Decision: Sohappy V. Smith And The Modern Era Of Tribal Treaty Rights, Monte Mills

Articles

Indian tribes and their members are leading a revived political, legal, and social movement to protect the nation’s natural resources. In doing so, tribes and their allies employ many effective strategies but core to the movement are the historic promises made to tribes by the United States through treaties. Tribes are asserting treaty-protected rights, which the United States Constitution upholds as the supreme law of the land, to defend the resources on which they and their ancestors have relied for generations. Those claims have resulted in significant legal victories, igniting a broader movement in favor of tribal sovereignty and securing …

Conceptualizing Indigenous Historical Justice Toward A Mutual Recognition With State In Taiwan, Awi Mona

Washington International Law Journal

Transitional justice has received considerable attention in recent years in Taiwan. Despite all this attention, transitional justice is an issue that remains incomplete without addressing justice for indigenous peoples. This paper aims to focus on the essential characteristics of indigenous justice against the successive alien regimes. Though the fact that the national apology to indigenous peoples may have broken new ground in the government’s relationship with indigenous peoples, the common understanding of transitional justice has caused significant bitterness and frustration for indigenous peoples. Until the core significance of indigenous justice is essentially resolved, the existing uncertainty about reconciliation with indigenous …

Savage Inequalities, Bethany R. Berger

Washington Law Review

Equality arguments are used today to attack policies furthering Native rights on many fronts, from tribal jurisdiction over non-Indian abusers to efforts to protect salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. These attacks have gained strength from a modern movement challenging many claims by disadvantaged groups as unfair special rights. In American Indian law and policy, however, such attacks have a long history, dating almost to the founding of the United States. Tribal removal, confinement on reservations, involuntary allotment and boarding schools, tribal termination—all were justified, in part, as necessary to achieve individual Indian equality. The results of these policies, justified …

A Comparative Analysis: Legal And Historical Analysis Of Protecting Indigenous Cultural Rights Involving Land Disputes In Japan, New Zealand, And Hawai'i, Zachary Browning

Washington International Law Journal

This article explores how courts in developed market economies address the tension between recognizing the rights of indigenous groups and addressing questions of land development that supposedly benefit the majority populations. Using a comparative approach, the article identifies three jurisdictions in the Pacific Rim with indigenous populations: (1) the State of Hawai‘i in the United States, (2) Japan, and (3) New Zealand and analyzes how land use courts and administrative bodies have addressed the thorny question pursuing development while fulfilling their obligations to indigenous populations. While the State of Hawai‘i has explicit state constitutional protections, Japan and New Zealand each …

Remaining Silent In Indian Country: Self-Incrimination And Grants Of Immunity For Tribal Court Defendants, Philipp C. Kunze

Washington Law Review

A defendant in state and federal courts is entitled to a constitutional protection against self-incrimination. The Fifth Amendment establishes this privilege, which can only be overcome through a voluntary waiver or by the granting of an appropriate level of immunity. Those grants of immunity were made mutually binding on the state and federal governments in Kastigar v. United States and Murphy v. Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. However, in Talton v. Mayes, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments do not limit the conduct of the more than 560 federally recognized Indian tribes …

Rent-A-Tribe: Tribal Immunity To Shield Patents From Administrative Review, Seth W.R. Brickey

Washington Law Review

In 2017, Allergan Pharmaceuticals entered into an agreement with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe (SRMT). Allergan agreed to assign several patents to SRMT and to pay an initial sum of $13.75 million and annual royalties of approximately $15 million. SRMT, in exchange, licensed the rights to use the patents back to Allergan and agreed not to waive its tribal immunity in any administrative proceeding challenging the patents. Two outcomes were expected as a result of this Allergan-Mohawk agreement. First, Allergan would retain the rights to manufacture and market a highly profitable drug while insulating the underlying patents from an unforgiving …

Motion For Leave To File Amicus Curiae Brief And Brief Of United Catcher Boats As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Petitioner - Makah Indian Tribe V. Quileute Indian Tribe And Quinault Indian Nation, Docket No. 17-1592 (139 S.Ct. 106 (2018))

Makah Indian Tribe v. Quileute Indian Tribe and Quinault Indian Nation, Docket No. 17-1592 (139 S.Ct. 106 (2018))

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Respondent State Of Washington Department Of Fish And Wildlife In Support Of Petition For Writ Of Certiorari - Makah Indian Tribe V. Quileute Indian Tribe And Quinault Indian Nation, Docket No. 17-1592 (139 S.Ct. 106 (2018))

Makah Indian Tribe v. Quileute Indian Tribe and Quinault Indian Nation, Docket No. 17-1592 (139 S.Ct. 106 (2018))

No abstract provided.

Reply Brief For The Petitioner - Washington V. United States, Docket No. 17-269 (138 S.Ct. 735 (2018))

Washington v. United States, Docket No. 17-269 (138 S.Ct. 735 (2018))

No abstract provided.

Brief Amicus Curiae On Behalf Of Pacific Coast Federation Of Fishermen’S Associations, Alaska Trollers Association, Institute For Fisheries Resources, Fly Fishers International, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, Northwest Guides And Anglers Association - Washington V. United States, Docket No. 17-269 (138 S.Ct. 735 (2018)) Association Of Northwest Steelheaders, And The Conservation Angler In Support Of Respondents

Washington v. United States, Docket No. 17-269 (138 S.Ct. 735 (2018))

No abstract provided.

Indigenous Rights To Water & Environmental Protection, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

This article examines the rights of Indian nations in the United States to adequate water supplies and environmental protection for their land and associated resources. Part I of this article provides a brief background on the history of federal-tribal relations and the source and scope of federal obligations to protect tribal resources. Part II reviews the source and nature of the federal government’s moral and legal obligations to Indian tribes, which are generally referred to as the trust responsibility. Indian reserved water rights and the difficulty tribes experience in protecting habitat needed for healthy treaty resources is discussed in Part …

Petition For Writ Of Certiorari - Washington V. United States, Docket No. 17-269 (138 S.Ct. 735 (2018))

Washington v. United States, Docket No. 17-269 (138 S.Ct. 735 (2018))

No abstract provided.

Making It Work: Tribal Innovation, State Reaction, And The Future Of Tribes As Regulatory Laboratories, Katherine Florey

Washington Law Review

This Article examines a growing phenomenon: even as the Supreme Court has steadily contracted the scope of tribes’ regulatory authority, many tribes have in recent years passed innovative laws and ordinances, often extending well beyond any comparable initiatives at the state or local level. Recently, for example, the Navajo Nation passed a comprehensive taxation scheme designed to discourage the consumption of unhealthy food items and to subsidize the purchase of healthy ones—a scheme far more ambitious than the soda tax efforts that have stalled in many cities and states. Likewise, amid national controversy over marijuana legalization, the Flandreau Santee Sioux …

Traditional Ecological Disclosure: How The Freedom Of Information Act Frustrates Tribal Natural Resource Consultation With Federal Agencies, Sophia E. Amberson

Washington Law Review

When a federal or state agency administers environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act, the agency often consults with tribes. During these consultations, tribes often disseminate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)—knowledge acquired by a tribe that is a mix of environmental ethics and scientific knowledge about tribal use. However, these consultations may be susceptible to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The purpose of FOIA is to inform the public. Because TEK often contains sensitive information about tribal social, cultural, psychological, and economic factors, tribes do not want this information available to those who are not members of …

Indian Treaty Fishing Rights And The Environment: Affirming The Right To Habitat Protection And Restoration, Michael C. Blumm

Washington Law Review

In 1970, several tribes in the Pacific Northwest, along with their federal trustee, sued the state of Washington claiming that numerous state actions violated their treaty rights, which assured them “the right of taking fish in common with” white settlers. The tribes and their federal trustee maintained that the treaties of the 1850s guaranteed the tribes: (1) a share of fish harvests for subsistence, cultural, and commercial purposes; (2) inclusion of hatchery fish in that harvest share; and (3) protection of the habitat necessary for the salmon that were the basis of the treaty bargain and the peaceful white settlement …

Beyond A Zero-Sum Federal Trust Responsibility: Lessons From Federal Indian Energy Policy, Monte Mills

Articles

The federal government’s trust relationship with federally recognized Indian tribes is a product of the last two centuries of Federal Indian Law and federal-tribal relations. For approximately the last 50 years, the federal government has sought to promote tribal self-determination as a means to carry out its trust responsibilities to Indian tribes; but the shadows of prior federal policies, based largely on notions of tribal incompetence and federal paternalism, remain. Perhaps no other policy arena better demonstrates the history, evolution, and promise for reform of the federal trust relationship than Federal Indian energy policy, or the range of federal statutes …

Foreword: A ‘Coyote Warrior’ And The ‘Great Paradoxes,’ The Scholarship Of Professor Raymond Cross, Monte Mills

Articles

This Foreword to the Public Land and Resources Law Review special issue republishing and celebrating the scholarship of Professor Raymond Cross provides a context and framework for understanding and appreciating the issue's articles. The Foreword reviews Professor Cross' legacy of work as a tribal attorney on behalf of the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) of the Fort Berthold Reservation and discusses the important contributions his scholarly work continue to make to the field of Federal Indian Law. As noted at the conclusion of the Foreword, "[i]t is a true honor to introduce and present some of his important …

Federal Treaty And Trust Obligations, And Ocean Acidification, Robert T. Anderson

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

Ocean acidification will have profound effects on the entire human population and natural resources that depend in any way upon Earth’s oceans and lakes. In turn, those effects will be even greater, and potentially catastrophic, for indigenous populations who rely on the seas for physical, cultural, and spiritual sustenance. While most research on carbon dioxide absorption from the atmosphere has focused on oceans and the resulting acidification, many believe that acidification levels also will also increase in the Great Lakes. Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes regions share reliance on marine and freshwater resources, and many …

What Should Tribes Expect From Federal Regulations? The Bureau Of Land Management's Fracking Rule And The Problems With Treating Indian And Federal Lands Identically, Monte Mills

Articles

On March 26, 2015, the Bureau of Land management (BLM) published its Final Rule regarding Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands (Final Rule). Work on the Rule had begun nearly four and a half years earlier as a way to update the agency’s outdated regulatory scheme to account for new fracking technology and growing public concern over the practice and potential safety concerns related to fracking.

The Final Rule amassed a number of procedural and substantive requirements for fracking operations and proposed to apply these standards uniformly to both public lands and lands held in trust by the Federal …

New Approaches To Energy Development In Indian Country: The Trust Relationship And Tribal Self-Determination At (Yet Another) Crossroads, Monte Mills

Articles

Energy development in Indian country exists at the crossroads of tribal self-determination and the federal government's trust responsibility. This article reviews the foundations of this crossroads, describes recent developments, and analyzes pending proposals that may enhance both tribal sovereignty and energy development in Indian country.

Sovereignty And Subsistence: Native Self-Government And Rights To Hunt, Fish, And Gather After Ansca, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed in 1971 to extinguish aboriginal rights of Alaska Natives and provide compensation for those rights extinguished. Instead of vesting assets (land and money) in tribal governments, Congress required the formation of Alaska Native corporations to receive and hold these assets. A major flaw in the settlement was the failure to provide statutory protections for the aboriginal hunting, fishing, and gathering rights extinguished by ANCSA. Moreover, while ANCSA did not directly address Alaska Native tribal status or jurisdiction, the Supreme Court interpreted the Act to terminate the Indian country status of ANCSA …

Federal Treaty And Trust Obligations, And Ocean Acidification, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

Ocean acidification will have profound effects on the entire human population and natural resources that depend in any way upon Earth’s oceans and lakes. In turn, those effects will be even greater, and potentially catastrophic, for indigenous populations who rely on the seas for physical, cultural, and spiritual sustenance. While most research on carbon dioxide absorption from the atmosphere has focused on oceans and the resulting acidification, many believe that acidification levels also will also increase in the Great Lakes. Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes regions share reliance on marine and freshwater resources, and many …

Water Rights, Water Quality, And Regulatory Jurisdiction In Indian Country, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

In the seminal Indian water rights case, Winters v. United Slates (1908), the Court posed this question: "The Indians had command of the lands and the waters-command of all their beneficial use, whether kept for hunting, 'and grazing roving herds of stock,' or turned to agriculture and the arts of civilization. Did they give up all this?" The Court's answer was no, and since then a large body of law has developed around Indian water rights, although the primary focus has been on the amount of water reserved for various tribal purposes. While Indian nations use property rights theories to …

Red Law, White Supremacy: Cherokee Freedmen, Tribal Sovereignty, And The Colonial Feedback Loop, Jeremiah Chin

Articles

Sovereignty and self-determination are cornerstones of arguments for Indigenous rights in the geographic United States. Both concepts assert an existence as Indigenous peoples, and reinforce status as nations with citizens and governments, rights and responsibilities, determined by Indigenous communities. In 2006, the Judicial Appeals Tribunal of the Cherokee Nation recognized that Lucy Allen and fellow Cherokee Freedmen, descendants of African slaves once owned by Cherokee, are citizens of the Cherokee Nation and had been citizens of the Cherokee Nation since the 1866 treaty with the United States. Less than a year later, the Cherokee Nation amended its constitution to limit …

Indigenous Restitution In Settling Water Claims: The Developing Cultural And Commercial Redress Opportunities In Aotearoa, New Zealand, Jacinta Ruru

Washington International Law Journal

Water is important to all peoples, including indigenous peoples. In recent years, the government in Aotearoa, New Zealand has utilized various cultural redress-type legal mechanisms to recognize and revive the importance of water to the Maori people’s identity, health, and wellbeing. These mechanisms create revolutionary modern opportunities for Maori to participate in the decision-making of how specific waters are used and protected. In particular, the negotiated agreements for the Te Arawa Lakes, and the Waikato, Waipa, and Whanganui rivers are studied in this article as prominent examples of how the government has agreed to, for example, co-management regimes. With the …

Protecting The Spiritual Beliefs Of Indigenous Peoples—Australian Case Studies, Michael Blakeney

Washington International Law Journal

This article examines the extent to which the spiritual beliefs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are protected under current Australian law. The first significant recognition by the High Court of Australia of the legal rights of indigenous peoples was in relation to native title over real property. As those peoples define their status and society by reference to their relationship with the land, this article considers the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to protect their spiritual beliefs as an incident of native title law. It reviews a line of intellectual property cases which have been a more fruitful source of …

Introduction, Jonathan A. Franklin

Washington International Law Journal

The four articles in this issue all contribute to the dialogue surrounding the intersection of indigenous people’s rights within international law and domestic actions that conflict with those rights. While the UNDRIP and other international law instruments are explicit about how states should act towards indigenous populations, in many cases these international instruments conflict with domestic law. There are several reasons for this discrepancy, including states’ self-interest, paternalism, and lack of resources needed to address both national concerns and the rights of indigenous peoples.

The Struggle For Laws Of Free, Prior, And Informed Consultation In Peru: Lessons And Ambiguities In The Recognition Of Indigenous Peoples, Elizabeth Salmón G.

Washington International Law Journal

Despite the fact that Peru ratified ILO Convention 169 on December 2, 1993 and was therefore bound by those dispositions, it adopted public policies without consulting indigenous people. This lack of dialogue led to social conflict over the management of natural resources. In June 2009, a violent episode of social unrest emerged in the provinces of Bagua and Utcubamba during the government of Alan García after the entry into force of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (“PTPA”). Indigenous people believed that PTPA aimed to sacrifice rainforest conservation for oil and mining exploitation. In this context, indigenous people grew frustrated …