Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

The Public Square In A Private-Property Obsessed Country: What New York City’S Pops Regulations Get Right And Why Other Cities Should (Mostly) Copy Them, Carson Mcgregor

Seattle University Law Review

When New York City (NYC) was first becoming the metropolitan monolith it is today, it had a problem: the city streets were chock full of skyscrapers, and sunlight, air, and usable open space were at a premium. In response, the City promulgated its first Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) regulations, which allowed developers to build skyward in exchange for providing public space on the street level. Unfortunately, in July of 2023, the New York Times (NYT) discovered that New Yorkers received only a fraction of what they were promised. Building owners received billions of dollars’ worth of added floor space, …

Intellectual Property Or Modern Folklore? The Problem With Open Gaming Licenses In Tabletop Gaming, Rosie Midget

Seattle University Law Review

This Note addresses how courts and legislatures should address “Open Gaming Licenses” commonly attached to tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), which game publishers use to promote a false image of accessibility—misleading consumers and building goodwill from the misunderstanding. Part I discusses what TTRPGs are, including the defining features of the hobby and culture surrounding it, as well as the unique interplay between publishers and players. Part II explores the question of which elements in a TTRPG system may be subject to copyright protection. Part III examines these elements in practice using Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons TTRPG as a …

Modern Day Colonialism Through HawaiʻI’S Quiet Title And Partition Laws, Cheyann Fujii

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will attempt to highlight important aspects of Hawaiian history to provide readers with a clear picture on how Native Hawaiians are still impacted by colonialism, specifically when plaintiffs bring a quiet title or partition action against Native Hawaiian owners of kuleana lands. Before colonization, the concept of private land ownership did not exist in Hawai‘i, and Native Hawaiians adopted a feudal system by dividing land into geographical areas. Missionaries and businessmen brought Western ideas to Hawai‘i and influenced legislation such as the Great Māhele and the Kuleana Land Act of 1850, which solidified the concept of private property. …

Data Advantage And Merger Review: Can Entrenchment Theory Reform Antitrust Enforcement?, Shin-Ru Cheng

Seattle University Law Review

A merger involving giant digital companies is likely to dampen competition, as it allows those companies to combine and control data access, enabling them to entrench their dominant positions in relevant markets and extend those positions into related markets. While competition law in many jurisdictions aims to prohibit mergers that may substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly, arguably the review of digital mergers is failing because antitrust agencies lack an effective approach to identify data-generated anticompetitive harms. This Article demonstrates that entrenchment theory, recently reintroduced in the 2023 U.S. Merger Guidelines, would help reform the process of antitrust enforcement. …

Defining Deference: Impacts Of Abandoning Chevron On Emerging Technology Governance And Administrative Law, R. Aubrey Davis Iii

Seattle University Law Review

Emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), often lead to unforeseen legal outcomes. Notable abuses in areas such as facial recognition, employment bias, and housing discrimination are well known. However, legislative responses to these issues either have been largely reactive or there has been no legislative response at all. In lieu of legislation, agencies have sought to fill the gap. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently proposed a rule mandating voter notification for all AI-generated political phone calls citing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 as authority. However, the TCPA was originally passed to curtail telemarketing, not …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Caution: Potholes In E-Scooter Data Collection, Dakota Rakestraw

Seattle University Law Review

Lime scooters keep ending up in major waterways in Washington state metro areas, a testament to the ubiquity of e-scooters in the metropolitan landscape. How they get there is unclear. Why they get there is even murkier. Perhaps the answer lies in the implications of modern geolocation data collection through e-scooters and gaps in current data collection regulation curbing individual liberties.

Since September 2020, electric scooters have run Seattle’s streets and have dramatically overtaken ridesharing bike trips. For example, from September 2020 to September 2021, there were about 1.4 million scooter and bike trips with September 2021 seeing 300,000 scooter …

Machinists Preemption In The New Administrative Law, Andrew J. Ziaja

Seattle University Law Review

This Article assesses Machinists preemption—a labor-specific form of implied field preemption—while freshly considering implications both for and of new developments in administrative law. The radical transformation of administrative law in the Supreme Court, particularly its newfound emphasis on clear-statement rules, provides opportunities to reconsider the Machinists rationale. Aligning with scholars who have called to question the doctrine’s “ossifying” influence on labor and employment policy, it argues that the modern-day version of Machinists preemption clashes with the Supreme Court’s newly constrained view of delegated power and its differing conceptions of the major questions doctrine.

On the other hand, Machinists preemption might …

Recognizing Injustice, Reclaiming Voices: Establishing A Missing Persons Database For Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women And Children In Nebraska, Bayly W. Watson

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Indigenous people have been the victims of harsh persecution since the time of colonization; this has negatively impacted Native communities and has contributed significantly to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children (MMIWC) across the United States and Canada. Under Legislative Bill 154, Richards et al. (2021) conducted an initial study to identify missing Native cases in Nebraska and in 2023, the Attorney General appointed a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Liaison to help combat the number of missing Indigenous in the state. This thesis contributes to previous research by analyzing 20,049 reports from three …

Development And Practice Of Tribal Community Planning: Ensuring Indigeneity In The Planning Process, Jared E. Munster, Ph.D.

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Onondaga Nation's Land Claim: Rights Without A Remedy?, Larissa Speak

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Case Law On American Indians: September 2023 - August 2024, Thomas P. Schlosser

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cruising Over Controversy: Addressing Discrimination Gaps In The Montreal Convention's Framework, Catherine Mitri

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Unconstitutional Impact Of Anti-Transgender Legislation On Native Hawaiians, Aaliah Moi-Matsumoto

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Old Habits Die Hard: How The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act Perpetuates Settler Colonialism And Denies Indigenous Sovereignty, Brandon Dodds

Emory Law Journal Online

Around the time it was passed, the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 was considered by many to be a great victory for the Wabanaki Nations in Maine. But in the decades since, the Act has substantially hindered the Wabanaki Nations’ self-determination efforts. Frequent litigation between the Nations and the state of Maine, narrow interpretation by courts, and the state of Maine’s opposition to remedying the Act’s most harmful provisions have constrained the sovereignty of the Wabanaki Nations. As a result, the Wabanaki Nations have been largely excluded from the significant social, economic, and political gains that tribes throughout …

The Meaning And Implications Of "Indian Country": State V. Dana, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

The jurisdictional reach of many federal laws relating to Indians is expressly tied to the term "Indian country.” Where "Indian country" exists, these laws, together with the strong federal policies underlying them, can preempt state jurisdiction. According to 18 U.S.C. § 1151, "Indian country" includes (a) any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States, (b) all dependent Indian communities within the borders of the United States, and (c) all Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished. The State of Maine, under the belief that no Indian Country is located within its borders, has throughout …

The Absurd Ballet Of American Indian Policy Or American Indian Struggling With Ape On Tropical Landscape: An Afterword, Rennard Strickland

Maine Law Review

On a recent visit to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., I was particularly struck by a painting that I encountered. Quite accidentally I came upon an Henri Rousseau primitive painting of a tropical landscape, in which, amidst abundant, lush foliage, was a tiny American Indian wrestling a giant ape. The plate identifying the work read: “‘Tropical Landscape: An American Indian Struggling With An Ape,’ Henri Rousseau, 1910." At that moment it occurred to me that this artist had captured an essential theme underlying the history of American Indian law and policy. This essay reflects upon and …

The Unilateral Termination Of Tribal Status: Mashpee Tribe V. New Seabury Corp., Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

Mashpee Tribe v. New Seabury Corp. is the first reported case in which a federal trial court decided the question of an Indian group's existence as a tribe. In Mashpee, the issue of tribal existence arose as a defense to a claim brought by the Mashpee Indians for recovery of lands comprising most of the Town of Mashpee, Massachusetts. At the time of suit, these lands were held by a class of defendants who, according to the Mashpees' complaint, held interests or title acquired without the consent of Congress in violation of the Nonintercourse Act. Based upon the jury verdicts, …

A Reexamination Of Passamaquoddy V. Morton, John M.R. Paterson, David Roseman

Maine Law Review

In December 1975, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued its historic decision in Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton. That decision set in motion a sequence of events that only the most prescient of the original participants could have imagined. At its height the litigation that grew out of Passamaquoddy involved a threatened suit by the United States Justice Department on behalf of two Indian groups in Maine against the State of Maine, several of the nation's largest corporations, 350,000 residents, and scores of Maine municipalities. The plaintiffs sought possession of 12,000,000 …

Defense Of Nonintercourse Act Claims: The Requirement Of Tribal Existence, James D. St. Clair, William F. Lee

Maine Law Review

On August 26, 1976, a group of persons claiming to be the "Mashpee Indian Tribe" commenced suit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against 146 named defendants alleging, inter alia, these named defendants to be representative of a class of defendants asserting interests in and title to a tract of land comprising all but a small fraction of the Town of Mashpee, Massachusetts. Specifically, the Mashpee plaintiff claimed that all persons asserting an interest in or title to the land in the Town of Mashpee obtained that interest or title in violation of section 12 …