Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

Winner, Best Appellate Brief In The 2022 Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Competition, Daniel Ahrens, Case Nieboer

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Front Pages

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Winding Trail: A Look At Non-Linear Temporality In Literary Works In Response To The Issue Of Sovereignty, Gabrielle Jones

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pachamama Over People And Profit: A Case For Indigenous Ecology And Environmental Personhood, Hilda Loury

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Administration Of Injustice: The Conflict Between Federal And Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction, Grace Slaff

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Indian Country’S Continued Struggle With The Opioid Crisis: Focused Problem Areas, The Federal Government’S Response, And What More Can Be Done, Ashlynn M. Wilkerson

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Winner, Best Appellate Brief In The 2023 Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Competition, Noah Goldenberg, Clayton Kinsey

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Indian Child Welfare Act In The Multiverse, M. Alexander Pearl

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl By Matthew L.M. Fletcher and Kathryn E. Fort, in Critical Race Judgments: Rewritten U.S. Court Opinions on Race and the Law 452, 471. Edited by Bennett Capers, Devon W. Carbado, R.A. Lenhardt and Angela Onwuachi-Willig.

Faulty Foundations: An Investigation Into Toxic Homes In The Blackfeet Nation, Kathleen Elyse Shannon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2002, a class action lawsuit came out of the Blackfeet Nation. The plaintiffs were residents of a federally-funded housing project called Glacier Homes, and they were suing Blackfeet Housing and the Department of Housing and Urban Development because their homes were making them sick. The case got some local media coverage for a couple years. But it was ultimately forgotten and the plaintiffs never got a remedy.

This long-form audio project revives this story and asks listeners to think about these plaintiffs’ arguments in a modern light. The Glacier Homes offer a lens through which to think about several …

Restoring Indian Reservation Status: An Empirical Analysis, Michael K. Velchik, Jeffery Zhang

Articles

In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court held that the eastern half of Oklahoma was Indian country. This bombshell decision was contrary to settled expectations and government practices spanning 111 years. It also was representative of an increasing trend of federal courts recognizing Indian sovereignty over large and economically significant areas of the country, even where Indians have not asserted these claims in many years and where Indians form a small minority of the inhabitants.

Although McGirt and similar cases fundamentally turn on questions of statutory and treaty interpretation, they are often couched in consequence-based arguments about the good …

Changemakers: Elevating Conversations Around Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Continuing Application Of Gladue Principles In The Professional Discipline Of Indigenous Lawyers: A Comment On Law Society Of Ontario V Mccullough, Andrew Martin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

While Gladue principles have previously been applied in the professional discipline of Indigenous lawyers, the recent decision of the Law Society Tribunal in Law Society of Ontario v McCullough affirms and applies those precedents in new and powerful ways. In this case comment, I explain the ways in which McCullough is important in its application of Gladue principles and consider what questions remain to be settled in future decisions.

Five Linguistic Methods For Revitalizing Indigenous Laws, Naiomi Walqwan Metallic

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Building on the ground-breaking work on the revitalization of Indigenous laws ongoing over the past decade, this article seeks to contribute to our understanding of how Indigenous languages can be used to recover Indigenous laws. It posits that there is not one single linguistic method, but at least five: 1) the ‘Meta-principle’ method; 2) the ‘Grammar as revealing worldview’ method; 3) the ‘Word-part’ method; 4) the ‘Word-clusters’ method; and 5) the ‘Place names’ method. Using the Mìgmaq language to illustrate, the article explains each method and provides examples of how they can be used to inform Indigenous law revitalization. The …

Achieving Climate Justice Through Land Back: An Overview Of Tribal Dispossession, Land Return Efforts, And Practical Mechanisms For #Landback, Vanessa Racehorse

Faculty Scholarship

Due to the increasing pressures of the climate change crisis, federal and state governments are beginning to acknowledge that Indigenous-led stewardship and control over Tribal aboriginal homelands is a crucial component of addressing climate change. In the United States, Tribal nations have a long history of responsible land stewardship, with environmental conservation and respect for the world's biodiversity being an inextricable piece of Tribal customs, traditions, and knowledge. This Article strives to pay due respect to traditional land stewardship and its important role in the past, present, and future.

Part I of this Article starts with an overview of the …

“Aspirations”: The United States And Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights, Kristen A. Carpenter

Publications

The United States has long positioned itself as a leader in global human rights. Yet, the United States lags curiously behind when it comes to the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. This recalcitrance is particularly apparent in diplomacy regarding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007, the Declaration affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination and equality, as well as religion, culture, land, health, family, and other aspects of human dignity necessary for individual life and collective survival. This instrument was advanced over several decades by Indigenous …

Sacrificing Sovereignty: How Tribal-State Tax Compacts Impact Economic Development In Indian Country, Pippa Browde

Faculty Law Review Articles

Economic development is a critical component of tribal sovereignty. When a state asserts taxing authority within Indian Country, there is potential for overlapping, or juridical, taxation over the same transaction. Actual or even potential juridical taxation threatens economic development opportunities for tribes. For many years, tribes and states have entered into intergovernmental agreements called tax compacts to reduce or eliminate juridical taxation. Existing literature has done little more than mention tax compacts with cursory cost-benefit analyses of the agreements. This is the first Article to critically examine the role tax compacts serve in promoting tribes’ economic development.

This Article analyzes …

The Unfulfilled Promise Of Indian Water Rights Settlements, Heather Tanana, Elisabeth Paxton Parker

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

As climate change threatens an already-scarce resource, quantifying tribal water rights is critical to providing additional certainty to an uncertain future. In order to protect the future of their communities, it is critical that tribal water rights move from merely theoretical paper rights to actualized wet water rights.

Examining Comity And The Exhaustion Doctrine In Tribal Court Civil Jurisdiction: The Cherokee Nation’S Opioid Litigation, Joëlle Klein

Washington Law Review

The opioid epidemic has devastated communities throughout the United States over the last two decades. Native American and Alaska Native tribes faced disproportionate impacts and suffered the long-lasting consequences that opioid addiction causes families and communities. In response, states and municipalities across the United States sued the distributors and pharmacies responsible for illegally diverting opioids. In April of 2017, the Attorney General for the Cherokee Nation, Todd Hembree, initiated a civil suit against opioid pharmaceutical distributors and retailers: CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart (pharmacies), and McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen (distributors). Although other tribes in the United States also brought claims against …

Climate Change And Indigenous Groups: The Rise Of Indigenous Voices In Climate Litigation, Maria Antonia Tigre

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Climate change’s pervasive human rights impacts on populations worldwide are widespread and now widely known. One avenue to address these human rights impacts is the growth of rights-based climate litigation. There are now hundreds of cases worldwide grounded on human rights claims. However, less attention has been brought to how vulnerable groups are disproportionally affected by climate change. Indigenous groups, in particular, are disproportionately affected by climate change due to their connection to their land and dependence on their ecosystems. To increase global attention and seek legal remedies to address how Indigenous communities are impacted by climate change, Indigenous groups …

Release The River: Recognizing Legal Rights For Natural Objects To Remedy Continuing Issues In American Environmental Law, Eamon Danieu

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Textualism And The Indian Canons Of Statutory Construction, Alex Tallchief Skibine

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

When interpreting statutes enacted for the benefit or regulation of Indians or construing treaties signed with Indian nations, courts are supposed to apply any of five specific canons of construction relating to Indian Affairs. Through examining the modern line of Supreme Court cases involving statutory or treaty interpretation relating to Indian nations, this Article demonstrates that the Court has generally been faithful in applying canons relating to treaty interpretation or abrogation. The Court has also respected the canon requiring unequivocal expression of congressional intent before finding an abrogation of tribal sovereign immunity. However, there are two other canons that the …

Facing New Mexico's 21st Century Water Challenges; A Report Of The New Mexico Water Policy And Infrastructure Task Force, New Mexico Water And Infrastructure Task Force N/A

Publications

No abstract provided.

Indigenous Peoples In Canada: A Bibliography Of Legal And Other Works To 1994, Kristen Clark, Leslie Haddock, Kent Mcneil

All Papers

No abstract provided.

A Jurisprudential Quilt Of Tribal Civil Jurisdiction: An Analysis Of Tribal Court Approaches To Determining Civil Adjudicatory Jurisdiction, Jacob Maiman-Stadtmauer

American Indian Law Journal

There are hundreds of Native American Tribes with their own judicial systems and courts. Under the test first established in Montana v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States has provided a single, nebulous standard for determining the limits of tribal courts’ jurisdiction over non-Indians. Scholars and federal jurists have long assumed that the Supreme Court's framework limiting tribal civil jurisdiction is essential to how tribal courts determine jurisdiction. This paper challenges that assumption. Through a first of its kind survey of tribal court decisions on civil jurisdiction, spanning 26 tribes and covering 71 decisions, this paper …

The Digital Isolation Of Indigenous Communities, Myranda Buiquy

American Indian Law Journal

The crude mistreatment of the tribes across America has continued to undermine Indigenous wealth and empowerment, leaving many Native people without proper housing, education, running water, healthcare, and telecommunications services. Tribes are forced to advocate for themselves to the federal government, instead of receiving support and compensation for generations of colossal exploitation.The federal government continues to breach their responsibility in protecting tribal treaty rights and must assume responsibility in closing an economic divide that has only worsened due to the pandemic.

Indigenous communities continue to endure disadvantaged living conditions, leaving their people without adequate resources. In addition, this vulnerable demographic …

Education Administration In Federal Indian Law: Learning From A Colonial Project Turned Tool Of Liberation, Ariel Liberman, Douglas L. Waters Jr.

American Indian Law Journal

While statistics tend to focus on the difficulties facing tribal education, this article endeavors to look at the matter with fresh eyes. The federal administrative paradigm governing tribal schools has gone from a tool of cultural genocide to a mechanism for empowerment. A survey of recent governmental reforms demonstrates an embrace of the diversity of Indigenous communities, an interest in empowering students through learning, and an acknowledgement of a history of active disenfranchisement. This is ever-evolving federal-tribal relationship shows the administrative state’s capacity for dealing with greatly nuanced community needs and for tailor-making reforms to achieve concrete goals, even if …

Native America: Universities As Quasi-Cities, Sovereignty And The Power To Name, Victoria Sutton

American Indian Law Journal

Universities as quasi-cities have an obligation to reflect on their educational mission, and public universities have a responsibility to Native America through the unique federal trust responsibility owed to Native Nations by the federal government. The naming of buildings and transitioning to responsible adulthood requires universities, administrators, and students to reflect on who we were, who we are now, and whom we hope to be. Collaborative efforts to work with Native Nations should be undertaken with regard to naming issues.

Sovereigns possess power to control historical narratives and outcomes through their sovereign power to (1) name geographical places; (2) protect …

Running Crane, Et. Al. V. Parsons, 19-Ap-13 (Blkft Tr. Ct. App., Nov. 17, 2022), Blackfeet Appellate Court

Court Decisions

In the Blackfeet Tribal Court of Appeals, the Court clarified that when the Court, in review of an appellate case, directs parties to submit a detailed summary of the status of the case, within a limited time period, and the partied do not provide that status update, the Court will dismiss that case, without prejudice.

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Wise Practices: Indigenous-Settler Relations In Laurentian Great Lakes Fishery Governance And Water Protection, Kate J. Mussett, Susan Bell Chiblow, Deborah Mcgregor, Rod Whitlow, Ryan Lauzon, Kaitlin Almack, Nicholas Boucher, Alexander T. Duncan, Andrea J. Reid

Articles & Book Chapters

Ongoing tensions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities working in support of the protection and management of fish and water in North America have necessitated a shift from current structures towards relationships built upon and driven by respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility. Similarly, the cumulative and evolving effects of climate change, industrialization, resource extraction, and displacement of Indigenous Peoples from their traditional and contemporary lands and waters requires purposeful application of decolonizing methods in aquatic systems management and protection, which in turn aids in the re-establishment of agency to Indigenous Peoples. This article endeavors to outline critical differences in ‘best …