Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

Alaska Native Rights, Statehood, And Unfinished Business, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

Alaska Native aboriginal rights to land and associated resources were never dealt with in a comprehensive fashion until 1971, when Congress passed the Alaska Native Lands Claims Settlement Act (ANILCA). Although general principles of federal Indian law provided strong support for the proposition that Alaska's Native people held aboriginal title to much of the new state, the Alaska Statehood Act itself carefully disclaimed any effect on aboriginal title. This approach was in keeping with the Congress's past dealings with Alaska Native property rights. This article outlines the history of Alaska Native aboriginal rights through the Statehood Act along with their …

Truth Or Consequences: Settling Water Disputes In The Face Of Uncertainty, Barbara Cosens

Articles

No abstract provided.

2005 Indian Water Rights Settlement Conference Keynote Address, Barbara Cosens

Articles

In September 2005, Native American Rights Fund and Western States Water Council brought the Indian Water Rights Settlement Conference to Moscow, Idaho. Native American Rights Fund is the oldest and largest nonprofit dedicated to asserting and defending Native American interests nationwide, and the Western States Water Council is composed of representatives appointed by the governors of eighteen western states, including Idaho. The conference brings together panel members representing tribal, state, federal agency, congressional, local, and environmental interests to discuss, argue, and at times resolve current issues facing the many efforts to settle Indian water rights in the western United States. …

Indian Water Rights And The Federal Trust Responsibility, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

Although federal policy shifted from assimilation to pro-tribal positions, the federal courts have quite consistently supported Indian reserved water rights. Indian water rights, however, were neglected by Congress in favor of non-Indian agricultural development in the arid West. Modem litigation over tribal rights takes place primarily in state courts that are tempted to interpret the few U.S. Supreme Court cases in ways that protect existing non-Indian uses over senior tribal water rights. Modern Indian water rights settlements tend to protect existing non- Indian uses while providing substantial benefits for tribes, but in a haphazard manner. This article examines the history …

Indian Water Rights: Litigation And Settlements, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

This article provides a brief overview of the law of Indian and federal reserved water rights and continues with an examination of the Snake River Water Rights Act. The Act serves as a vehicle for discussion of what is right and what is wrong with the current Indian water rights settlement process. Finally, the article suggests that the Administration modify the portion of its criteria and procedures for Indian water settlements dealing with federal financial contributions. These criteria and procedures need to more accurately reflect the realities of past settlements and promote more successes like the Snake River Water Rights …

Judicial Regrets And The Case Of The Cushman Dam, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Articles

This essay is a criticism of the Ninth Circuit's en banc decision in Skokomish Indian Tribe v. United States [401 F.3d 979 (9th Cir. 2005]. It finds particular fault with the court's understanding of Indian treaty rights as "something given," and its outlandish conclusion that fishing was not a "primary purpose" of the Stevens treaties.

The article further criticizes the court's treatment of the "continuing nuisance" doctrine that is applied to afford a statute of limitations defense to enterprises that did lasting environmental damage by diverting the entire North Fork of the Skokomish River out of the watershed.

It concludes …

Treatment As Tribe, Treatment As State: The Penobscot Indians And The Clean Water Act, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Articles

No abstract provided.

Tribal Sovereignty Over Water Quality, Jessica Owley

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Establishment Clause During The 2004 Term: Big Cases, Little Movement, Marci A. Hamilton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Framework For Evaluation Of Tribal Water Settlements, Barbara Cosens

Articles

No abstract provided.

Farmers, Fish, Tribal Power And Poker: Reallocating Water In The Truckee River Basin, Nevada And California, Barbara Cosens

Articles

No abstract provided.

Religion, The Rule Of Law, And The Good Of The Whole: A View From The Clergy, Marci A. Hamilton

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Measure Of Indian Water Rights: The Arizona Homeland Standard, Gila River Adjudication, Barbara Cosens

Articles

On November 26, 2001, the Arizona Supreme Court concluded that Indian reservations were established as homelands. By articulating a homeland standard for the measure of reserved water rights based on tribal economic development plans, cultural needs, and historic water uses, the Arizona Supreme Court has eliminated many of the blatant inequities plaguing the current approach to Indian water rights quantification. Nevertheless, there are concerns with wholesale adoption of the Arizona standard, including the effect on those who have devoted resources in reliance on the previous standard, the introduction of uncertainty in the method of quantification, and the impact on federal …

American-Style Justice In No Man's Land, Peter Nicolas

Articles

This Article seeks to fill the gap in the existing literature by exploring the constitutional limits on federal court subject matter jurisdiction in the context of civil disputes arising in Indian Country and civil disputes arising elsewhere involving Indian tribes, tribal entities, and tribal members.

Part II of this Article catalogues the universe of "no forum" and "biased forum" jurisdictional quagmires with respect to civil disputes arising in Indian Country or those arising elsewhere involving Indian tribes, tribal entities, and tribal members, examining the existing legal obstacles that prevent federal, state, and tribal courts from exercising jurisdiction over the "no …

Growth And Form: Indian Tribes, Terrorism, And The Durability Of Environmental Law, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Articles

My target audience is the body of extraordinary law students here at the Vermont Law School who will define the shape and direction of tomorrow's environmental law. My plan is to derive five virtues of significant achievement—genius, high-leveraging, symbolism, optimism, and courage—and to convince you that the Indian tribes of the United States are fortuitously blessed with these capacities for positive change.

I am obliged to defend my five virtues against the charge that they are "gray" virtues, mere tactics of opportunity open to use by the forces of hatred and destruction as freely as those of nurturing and protection. …

The Miccosukee Indians And Environmental Law: A Confederacy Of Hope, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Articles

Two legal orphans have found each other. The older one is "Indian Law," a confused, embarrassing, and twisted body of legal rules that "explain" the relationships between the United States and its native peoples. The newer one is "Environmental Law," a complex and jumbled stew of cases and statutes that "prescribe" proper behavior between modern Americans and the natural world.

Both these children of the law are suspected of subversion—the one is tainted by advocates of separate sovereignties, the other by critics of the American way of life. For Native Americans and environmentalists, their recent legal merger is a confederacy …

Judicial Termination Of Treaty Water Rights: The Snake River Case, Dale Goble

Articles

No abstract provided.

Race And The Right To Vote After Rice V. Cayetano, Ellen D. Katz

Articles

Last Term, the Supreme Court relied on Gomillion [v. Lightfoot] to hold that Hawaii, like Alabama before it, had segregated voters by race in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. The state law at issue in Rice v. Cayetano provided that only "Hawaiians" could vote for the trustees of the state's Office of Hawaiian Affairs ("OHA"), a public agency that oversees programs designed to benefit the State's native people. Rice holds that restricting the OHA electorate to descendants of the 1778 inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands embodied a racial classification that effectively "fenc[ed] out whole classes of ...ci tizens from decisionmaking …

Indian Tribes And The Legal System, Ralph W. Johnson

Articles

This article surveys the past and present role of lawyers in the field of Indian law, from the absence of attorneys in early treaty negotiations through the formative role lawyers played in developing the federal trust relationship, to their modem role as "legal warriors" for the increasingly independent, autonomous tribes of today. To understand all the changes now occurring in Indian law, a review of the background is helpful. What follows is a synopsis of the significant events in Indian history, focusing on how the U.S. government initially treated Indians and the role the legal profession played in this treatment.

Dedication To Professor Ralph W. Johnson, David H. Getches

Articles

This Indian law symposium issue of the Washington Law Review was inspired by the work of Professor Ralph W. Johnson, whose teaching and personal commitment to the field have motivated hundreds, if not thousands, of law students. The decision of the Editorial Board to dedicate the symposium to him might have been made by as many as thirty classes that have passed through the University of Washington School of Law. Those students have been introduced to and moved by Professor Johnson's elucidation of a field that is at once intellectually challenging and morally significant. Johnson's alumni have spread over the …

The 1997 Water Rights Settlement Between The State Of Montana And The Chippewa Cree Tribe Of The Rocky Boy's Reservation: The Role Of Community And Of The Trustee, Barbara Cosens

Articles

No abstract provided.

Group Agency And Group Rights, James W. Nickel

Articles

No abstract provided.

Dedication To Professor Ralph W. Johnson, David H. Getches

Articles

This Indian law symposium issue of the Washington Law Review was inspired by the work of Professor Ralph W. Johnson, whose teaching and personal commitment to the field have motivated hundreds, if not thousands, of law students. The decision of the Editorial Board to dedicate the symposium to him might have been made by as many as thirty classes that have passed through the University of Washington School of Law. Those students have been introduced to and moved by Professor Johnson's elucidation of a field that is at once intellectually challenging and morally significant. Johnson's alumni have spread over the …

The Sense Of Justice And The Justice Of Sense: Native Hawaiian Sovereignty And The Second "Trial Of The Century", William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Articles

My approach in this Essay is to look at the Native Hawaiian Sovereignty conflict through a lens suggested by evolutionary theory, sometimes described in the law schools as "Law and Biology." In this world, the sense of justice is a set of expectations about how others should behave, backed by a proclivity towards moralistic aggression against deviators.

The sense of justice entails both cognition and emotion, with a match of expectations and then the fit that follows if there is no fit.

Compare and despair is the name of the game. Explored in detail are the actions of Dennis "Bumpy" …

Chief Justice Rehnquist And The Indian Cases, Ralph W. Johnson, Berrie Martinis

Articles

Since his appointment to the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has guided significant changes m Indian law He has articulated new tests for determining the status of tribes and their powers as sovereign nations. He has voted to disestablish tribes and limit their sovereign powers. He has voted to allow states to exercise jurisdiction over Indian and non-Indian activities and property on reservations.

The articulation of a legal philosophy is generally accepted, expected, and probably necessary for a Supreme Court Justice. At the same time it is instructive to know the views of the members of …

Chief Justice Rehnquist And The Indian Cases, Ralph W. Johnson, Berrie Martinis

Articles

Since his appointment to the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has guided significant changes in Indian law. He has articulated new tests for determining the status of tribes and their powers as sovereign nations. He has voted to disestablish tribes and limit their sovereign powers. He has voted to allow states to exercise jurisdiction over Indian and non-Indian activities and property on reservations.

The articulation of a legal philosophy is generally accepted, expected, and probably necessary for a Supreme Court Justice. At the same time it is instructive to know the views of the members of …

Fifth Amendment Takings Implications Of The 1990 Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, Ralph W. Johnson, Sharon I. Haensly

Articles

In November 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ("NAGPRA"). NAGPRA provides for the protection and disposition of Native American cultural items discovered on federal or tribal lands after NAGPRA's effective date. NAGPRA also addresses disposition of those objects currently held or controlled by federal agencies and museums. NAGPRA represents Congress' attempt to resolve years of debate between tribes, archaeologists, and museums. Like any legislative pronouncement, however, Congress left key issues to agencies and courts to resolve. This article focuses upon one such area, namely, Fifth Amendment takings questions that may arise when tribes or individual …

Fragile Gains: Two Centuries Of Canadian And United States Policy Toward Indians, Ralph W. Johnson

Articles

The United States and Canada share a common history in their policies toward and legal treatment of the Native Americans that historically have occupied both countries. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 established a policy of recognizing Aboriginal title and treating with Indians that was binding on the colonies that preceded both countries, and influenced both governments in later dealings with tribes. Assimilationist themes are evident as well in the national policy toward Indians in both countries. Nevertheless, historically and in the present, national policies and laws of the two governments can be contrasted. This Article sets forth a detailed comparison …

Congressional Abrogation Of Indian Treaties: Reevaluation And Reform, Michael Townsend

Articles

The treaties between the United States and the Indians constitute a critical recognition and guarantee of Indian rights. They envision a "measured separatism"' for an important minority that is determined to maintain a distinct cultural and political identity.' Non-treaty rights are fragile: The Supreme Court has held that Indians are not citizens within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment,' and that Congress has "plenary power" over Indian affairs by virtue of its guardianship over their interests. Moreover, the United States has ended the formal negotiation process with the Indians, and apparently no further treaties will be concluded. Thus, Congress' power …

Law And Alaska Natives: The Warp And Woof Of A Field Of Law In Transition, Ralph W. Johnson

Articles

Reviewing Alaska Natives and American Laws, by David Case (1984).