Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

Felix Cohen, Anti-Semitism And American Indian Law. Book Review Of Architect Of Justice: Felix S. Cohen And The Founding Of American Legal Pluralism By Dalia Tsuk Mitchell, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

Felix Cohen and his work and legacy are discussed in several new books, including an important intellectual biography of Cohen by Dalia Tsuk Mitchell. Using the Mitchell biography as a starting point, this essay discusses an important episode in Cohen's life, involving apparent anti-Semitism at the Department of Justice. Because the episode is not fully explored in this otherwise excellent biography, Cohen and his motivations in Indian law remain a mystery in some respects. The essay also discusses some of the paradoxes of Cohen's key involvement in federal Indian policy and the contemporary importance of some of his legacies in …

Public Safety And Criminal Justice, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

Conference Transcript from The New Realism: The Next Generation of Scholarship in Federal Indian Law

Testimony On The Regulation Of Indian Gaming, Oversight Hearing On The [Nigc] Minimum Internal Control Standards, Before The United States House Of Representatives, Committee On Resources, 109th Congress, 2nd Session, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

State governments have an inherent conflict of interest in the regulation of Indian gaming. Strict regulation of Indian gaming can be good for the long term health of the industry, but may impact short term revenues. States have a strong short term interest in maximizing gaming revenue. Tribal governments should bear the primary responsibility for regulating Indian gaming. However, tribal regulators also have a weakness, namely, a myopia to the interests of other tribes and the national interests of the Indian gaming industry. Federal regulators can best protect the integrity of the industry nationally and ought to have a strong …

Implicit Divestiture Reconsidered: Outtakes From The Cohen's Handbook Cutting-Room Floor, John P. Lavelle

Faculty Scholarship

The most dramatic development in the field of Indian law during the years between publication of the 1982 and 2005 editions of Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law has been the Supreme Court's reliance on a judicially devised theory for denying the inherent sovereign governing authority of Indian nations in cases where Congress has not acted to divest tribes of this authority. The executive committee of the board of authors and editors for the 2005 revision of Cohen's Handbook recognized the importance of discussing this recent line of cases in-depth and entrusted me with the task of preparing the draft. …

Federal Criminal Law And Tribal Self-Determination, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

Under the rubric of "tribal self-determination," federal policymakers have shifted federal governmental power and control to tribal governments in nearly all areas of Indian policy. Normatively, this shift reflects an enlightened view about the role of Indian tribes in Indian policy. As a practical matter, it has also improved services to Indians on reservations by placing functions with tribal service providers who are more knowledgeable and more accountable than their federal counterparts. Despite broad adoption of self-determination as the dominant federal policy, felony criminal justice on Indian reservations has remained an exclusive federal function, and a highly ineffective enterprise, according …

Tribal Self-Determination At The Crossroads, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

The tribal self-determination initiative that began transforming federal Indian policy thirty years ago has reached a crossroads. Despite its transformative effects on tribal governments and the widespread belief that self-determination has been a successful federal approach to Indian affairs, no significant new self-determination program has been initiated at the congressional level in several years. This Article looks to the tribal self-determination initiative's past to gain insights about its future. It also briefly surveys existing tribal self-determination programs and concludes that far more work needs to be done to achieve tribal self-determination. Drawing on the author's broader work, it finds one …

Creating A Tribal Law Practice Clinic In Kansas: Carving The Peg To Fit The Hole, Aliza Organick

Faculty Scholarship

This article will focus on three main challenges in creating a tribal court practice clinic. The first part will address creating a tribal court focus within an existing clinic curriculum. The second part will address the process of designing a curriculum for the TCPC that includes incorporating the basic doctrinal foundations of federal Indian law, as well as the clinical skills necessary to practice in a tribal court setting. The third part will offer some concluding thoughts on my long-term plans and dreams for TCPC.

A Legal History Of Blood Quantum In Federal Indian Law To 1935, Paul Spruhan

Faculty Scholarship

The concept of blood quantum confronts anyone interested in American Indian identity in the United States. Both for federal recognition as an “Indian” and for membership in a tribal nation, a person generally must possess a threshold amount of Indian or tribal “blood,” expressed as one-half, one-quarter, or some other fractional amount. In this context, blood is a metaphor for ancestry, as the amount of Indian blood depends on the status of a person’s lineal ancestors. For instance, a person with one Indian parent and one non-Indian parent has one-half Indian blood, while a person with one Indian grandparent and …

When The State Bar Exam Embraces Indian Law: Teaching Experiences And Observations, Gloria Valencia-Weber, Sherri Nicole Thomas

Faculty Scholarship

In 2002, New Mexico became the first state to place Indian law on the state bar exam. This decision made basic knowledge of Indian law part of the competency expected of all licensed attorneys. This result arose from the University of New Mexico School of Law's (UNM) significant role as the only law school in the state. In combination with the social and political history of the state these elements produced this historic result. This paper outlines the history of Indian law at UNM and discusses the formal process that placed Indian law on the state's bar exam. The discussion …

Indian As Race/Indian As Political Status: Implementation Of The Half-Blood Requirement Under The Indian Reorganization Act, 1934-1945, Paul Spruhan

Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the implementation of the half-blood provision by the central office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) under the administration of Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier. Through archival documents, the article reveals that the lawyers and administrators within the BIA were aware of the conceptual and practical problems of defining Indian status solely by blood quantum, and inconsistently applied social and cultural definitions alongside the biological one to implement the criterion. Therefore, despite the statute's clear biological definition, administrative application of the definition incorporated both biological and non-biological elements. Such incorporation complicates attempts to label the …

Toward A Pedagogy And Ethic Of Law/Lawyering For Indigenous Peoples, Christine Zuni Cruz

Faculty Scholarship

This article is prefaced with a reflection on Indigenous Peoples in the legal profession which leads into a discussion on the pedagogy and preparation of Indigneous students in law. It addresses the current pedagogy employed in training indigenous students in law and proposes a reframing of this preparation by including and employing an indigenous perspective and intellectual tradition of leadership. It considers the relationship of the Indian law academician with indigenous justice systems. The article addresses the influence on pedagogy that emerges from the Indigenous legal tradition, and the importance of incorporating these influences into the education and preparation of …

American Indians, Crime, And The Law, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

This Article evaluates the federal Indian country criminal justice regime, not against norms of Indian law and policy, but against those of criminal law and policy. Specifically, this Article evaluates the federal constitutional norms that lie at the heart of American criminal justice and that are designed to ensure the legitimacy of federal criminal trials. Toward that end, Part I presents a critical description of key facets of the federal Indian country criminal justice system. Part II begins the critical evaluation by evaluating a key institutional player in the federal system, the federal prosecutor. It highlights the handicaps faced by …

Testimony On The Regulation Of Indian Gaming, Oversight Hearing On Indian Gaming, Before The United States Senate, Committee On Indian Affairs, 109th Congress, 1st Session, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

Federal and tribal regulation is likely to be more successful than state regulation of Indian gaming because tribal governments and the federal government have a greater interest in the long term success of Indian gaming. Uniform federal minimum internal control standards can protect the integrity of the Indian gaming industry nationwide. While federal regulators should exercise a powerful role, they must be respectful of tribal governments.

Testimony On The Regulation Of Indian Gaming, United States Senate, Committee On Indian Affairs, 109th Congress, 1st Session, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

Congress must shore up NIGC regulatory authority over Class III gaming, guard against regulatory capture in tribal regulatory commissions, and reconsider the legitimacy of federal oversight of tribal economic decision-making. Congress should give the NIGC greater authority over licensure of those involved in Indian gaming and circumscribe the federal role over tribal economic decisions.

Reconsidering The Commission’S Treatment Of Tribal Courts, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

Since the U.S. Sentencing Commission first enacted the federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Guidelines have treated tribal courts in a manner that is impossible to reconcile with other modem federal policies of respect for tribal self-determination and self-governance. In refusing to count tribal convictions for purposes of routine calculation of criminal history, the Commission has disrespected tribal courts. The Commission's tribal courts policy is anachronistic and out of step with modem efforts to support tribal courts. The Commission should amend the guidelines to reflect the principle that misdemeanor convictions from tribal courts are entitled to the same level of respect as …

Re-Establishing The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate's Reservation Boundaries: Building A Legal Rationale From Current International Law, Angelique Eaglewoman

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines one tribal nation as an example of the many land loss issues facing Tribes at present. Through the example of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate history of treaties, agreements, land cessions, and finally a federal ruling of reservation disestablishment, the policies of the United States regarding Indian lands will be shown. To reestablish the territorial boundaries of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, federal recognition is necessary in the United States. International law principles from the United Nations, the International Labor Organization, and the Organization of American States may provide legal support for the re-recognition of the reservation boundaries.

Four Questions On Critical Race Praxis: Lessons From Two Young Lives In Indian Country, Christine Zuni Cruz

Faculty Scholarship

The Critical Race Lawyering Symposium in New York City brings me from Albuquerque, New Mexico. As I travel the day before the symposium, I reflect on the amount of time it will take. I leave Albuquerque at 8:23 a.m. and I am scheduled to arrive in New York City at 4:05 p.m., via Chicago. Given the two-hour time difference between the East Coast and the Rocky Mountain regions, I begin my day boarding the plane as the sun is rising in the morning sky and end it at my destination where the sun is setting. Even in this day and …

Eagle Feathers And Equality: Lessons On Religious Exceptions From The Native American Experience, Kevin J. Worthen

Faculty Scholarship

The legality and propriety of exempting religiously motivated conduct from otherwise applicable legal norms is the subject of ongoing scholarly, judicial, and legislative debate. The issue is particularly thorny when it arises in a legal system deeply committed to the concept of equality. The Eagle Protection Act, which exempts Native Americans religious practitioners who are members of federally recognized tribes from its general prohibition on the taking and use of bald and golden eagle feathers, provides an interesting context in which to examine that debate. Not only does the Act exempt religiously motivated conduct from the otherwise applicable norms, it …

Federal Law, State Policy, And Indian Gaming, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

This Article will set forth the legal authorization and the economic success of Indian gaming by asking and answering two rhetorical questions: "What makes Indian gaming lawful?" and "What makes Indian gaming successful?" This Article will conclude with the observation that Indian gaming exists almost entirely at the mercy of state governments. It will argue that, while Indian gaming began as a cross-border issue, it no longer has those features. Indeed, it has been transformed into the very antithesis of a cross-border issue, a political issue that is addressed almost entirely in the sphere of state political processes. The issue …

A Legacy Of Public Law 280: Comparing And Contrasting Minnesota's New Rule For The Recognition Of Tribal Court Judgments With The Recent Arizona Rule, Kevin Washburn, Chloe Thompson

Faculty Scholarship

This article will evaluate the Minnesota Rule by comparing and contrasting its development, as well as its substantive content, with the new Arizona Rules. Part II of this article will describe the Minnesota Rule and compare it to the Arizona Rules that shortly preceded it. Part III will describe the rulemaking processes that produced the Minnesota and Arizona Rules and seek to provide insight into how Minnesota reached such a markedly different result than Arizona. Part III will also mine the insights from these processes and from other sources to offer some explanation as to why the Arizona Supreme Court …

Toward An Indigenous Jurisprudence Of Rape, Sarah Deer

Faculty Scholarship

This article sets forth some preliminary issues and perspectives for the development of indigenous models of rape jurisprudence. Part I examines the reasons for and importance of developing an indigenous jurisprudence of rape. Part II addresses tribal jurisdiction issues, particularly the current limitations on tribal authority. Part III provides a historical context for the issue, including examples of the role of colonization in the responses to sexual violence. Part IV shares some visions for the development of a contemporary jurisprudence of rape for indigenous nations.

Santa Clara Pueblo V. Martinez: Twenty-Five Years Of Disparate Cultural Visions An Essay Introducing The Case For Re-Argument Before The American Indian Nations Supreme Court, Gloria Valencia-Weber

Faculty Scholarship

Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez nakedly presents a conflict between the individual rights norm of equality and the communal or collective political right of the first sovereigns within U.S. borders. The conflict underlies the discourse in law scholarship and reflects disparate cultural visions between mainstream society and American Indians. In Indian law the decision has saliency with positive and negative force injected into different arenas besides equal protection, gender, and membership qualifications. It is a major fortification for the federally recognized tribal sovereigns to exclude external law and forums, the federal law and courts, in how tribes exercise self-government. The …

Lara, Lawrence, Supreme Court Litigation, And Lessons From Social Movements, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

United States v. Lara was hailed as a victory for Indian tribes because it upheld tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-member Indians. Lawrence v. Texas was hailed as a victory for the gay rights movement because it upheld the due process right of gays to be protected from criminal prosecutions for consensual sexual acts done in private within their own homes. Despite dramatically different contexts, the two cases share a common thread: both are cases in which interested groups achieved important successes by marshalling broad support for their arguments at the briefing stage which helped pave the way for Supreme Court …

Petitioner's Brief - Reargument Of Oliphant V. Suquamish Indian Tribe, John P. Lavelle

Faculty Scholarship

Does the Suquamish Indian Tribe possess inherent sovereign power to exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians alleged to have committed misdemeanor crimes within the boundaries of the tribe's own reservation in violation of the Suquamish Law and Order Code?

Racial Equality: Old And New Strains And American Indians, Gloria Valencia-Weber

Faculty Scholarship

First, I will set the colonial context for equality that was anchored in a narrow white male model as the principal civic actor. Second, the discussion proceeds to the political status of American Indians, the basis for the nation-to-nation relations that secured in treaties the lands and resources that benefited non-Indians. Third, this Article explores the cultural difference between indigenous and constitutional visions of individual rights and community. Fourth, is a description of the efforts to remake Indians into a race and assimilate their governments into federalism. Fifth, this Article discusses the Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez case, which demonstrates …

Tribal Courts And Federal Sentencing, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

In light of the overwhelming acceptance of the norm of tribal self-governance in federal Indian policy, the Commission's decision not to credit the legitimate work of tribal courts in adjudicating misdemeanor sentences is surprising. This article critically evaluates this peculiar and unexplained policy. Part I describes the current federal policy toward tribal governments with particular emphasis on tribal courts and explains the role of tribal courts in the unique federal criminal justice regime that governs Indian country. Part II describes the Federal Sentencing Guidelines with particular attention to the provisions on criminal history. Part II also evaluates the Commission's current …

The Mechanics Of Indian Gaming Management Contract Approval, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Scholarship

The National Indian Gaming Commission's management contract review process is complicated, time-consuming and governed by detailed regulations. This article explains how the process actually works within the Commission and addresses some of the common issues that arise.

Indigenous Pueblo Culture And Tradition In The Justice System: Maintaining Indigenous Language, Thought And Law In Judicial Review, Christine Zuni Cruz

Faculty Scholarship

In this paper Christine Zuni Cruz considers several issues that have emerged from her personal experience working as an Associate Justice on the Pueblo Appellate Court in the United States. These concerns relate to maintaining the culture of the Pueblo within an acknowledged western, and specifically Anglo-American, framework of justice. The key elements discussed include language, process and knowledge. This paper provides a North American perspective on the interface between Indigenous law and western legal frameworks. It therefore has resonance in the contemporary Australian landscape, where efforts to secure Indigenous rights and interests in land encounter difficulties both in regards …

Are County Officials Liable For Forcibly Executing A Search Warrant Against A Sovereign Indian Tribe, John P. Lavelle

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Current Issues In Native American Law, Gloria Valencia-Weber, Taiawagi Helton, Paul Frye, Samuel Winder, John Echohawk

Faculty Scholarship

Report of the Proceedings of the Judicial Conference of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Transcribed conference panel session: Gloria Valencia-Weber focuses her segment on important language on Indian sovereignty in the Nevada v. Hicks case.