Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

Understanding The Big Three’S Wavering Support Of Environmental And Social Shareholder Proposals, Jeff Schwartz, Jefferson Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

Because of their substantial equity portfolios, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street (the Big 3) are central players in corporate governance. It is, therefore, critical to understand how they vote. One puzzle is that their support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social matters appears to waiver. In 2020, for instance, BlackRock supported 11.1% of environmental proposals at S&P 500 firms. In 2021, it seemingly reversed course, supporting 55.2%. It then flipped again, supporting 32.1% in 2022. Such statistics suggest that the Big 3 are constantly changing their views on these topics. This Article seeks to better understand whether this is …

How The Antidiscrimination Law Of Commercial Transactions Really Works, Helen Norton

Seattle University Law Review

A variety of businesses now cite 303 Creative when seeking First Amendment protection for their refusal to serve certain customers based on those customers’ protected class status. How this litigation will play out remains to be seen. But future courts need not, and should not, repeat the 303 Creative Court’s misunderstanding of how the antidiscrimination law of commercial transactions actually works.

Part I of this Essay explains the Court’s longstanding understanding of the antidiscrimination law of commercial transactions, and then describes the Court’s failure to engage with this precedent in 303 Creative. Part II then identifies the 303 Creative decision’s …

Rejecting The Racialization Of Indianness, Andrea J. Martin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Unveiling The Environmental Impact Of Large Language Models On Indigenous Communities: A Call For Action And Liability, Nina-Simone Edwards

Library Scholarship

Large Language Models (LLMs) have rapidly gained popularity for their language generation and comprehension capabilities, promising increased efficiency in various sectors. However, while celebrated for their transformative potential, LLMs exacerbate current climate issues. This Article highlights the detrimental environmental footprint of LLMs, with a focus on their role in escalating climate change and their disproportionate effects on Indigenous communities. These communities, closely tied to their land, bear the brunt of environmental degradation, further aggravated by LLM-induced emissions.

This Article first dissects the interplay between environmental justice and technological innovation, advocating for a reevaluation of the trust relationship between tribal nations …

A Critical Juncture: The Convergence Of Natural Resource Management And Tribal Sovereignty, Anna Aleta Butterfield

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio reflects the work I’ve done in my four years as a dual degree student, pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Studies and a juris doctorate degree, and focuses on policies and laws surrounding natural resource management. It touches on how those policies relate to and expand or constrict the exercise of sovereignty by indigenous populations.

This piece first considers the effects of plastic on salmon populations and those indigenous groups that rely on salmon for subsistence and cultural purposes. The remaining three pieces focus on various aspects of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes - Montana Water …

Tribal Health Self-Determination: The Role Of Tribal Health Systems In Actualizing The Highest Attainable Standard Of Health For American Indians And Alaska Natives, Vanessa Ann Racehorse

Publications

In this Article, I explore the concept of Tribal self-determination in the context of systems that serve American Indian and Alaska Native communities. I investigate the vast health disparities that exist in Tribal communities, as well as the history and current legal framework for the provision of health care in Indian Country. Part of this discussion also provides information on the federal laws and policies that have fractured the traditional lifeways of Native communities and contributed to the disparate health outcomes that now exist. I also provide background on the fundamental federal laws and policies, particularly the Indian Self-Determination and …

The Bugbear Of Indigenous Commercial Fishing Rights On The Eastern Frontiers Of Australia And The United States, Teresa Singh

LL.M. Essays & Theses

Restrictions on the commercial exercise of Indigenous fishing rights are plentiful across the U.S. and Australia. They have particular force and prevalence for Indigenous communities residing in the sites of the first colonies in both nations. This note exposes the common history underlying the diminished rights in these regions and argues the situation amounts to a critical environmental injustice. It follows that environmental justice advocates and scholars should embrace and advance the more encompassing iteration of Indigenous fishing rights urged by this note and support their restoration as a form of corrective justice for these communities.

Criminalizing Ecocide: An Opportunity To Embed The Inseparability Of Humans From Nature Into The Law, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Amid widespread acknowledgment that we live on a planet in peril, the term “ecocide” packs a powerful rhetorical punch. Extant regulatory approaches to environmental protection feel insufficient in the face of the triple threat of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. International criminal prosecution for ecocide, by contrast, promises to meet the moment, and a recent proposal to introduce ecocide into the canon of core international crimes is gaining traction. Assuming the push to criminalize ecocide continues to gain momentum, this Article argues that the primary (and perhaps, sole) benefit that international criminal law can offer in this context is …

Institutions And Economic Development, Ezra Rosser

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

INTRODUCTION: Though forty years have passed since the American Indian Law Review published Economic Development in Indian Country: What Are the Questions? by Professor Frank Pommersheim, many of the same challenges and questions about economic development remain. This brief Essay looks back at Pommersheim’s work, surveys the state of scholarship on economic development today, and offers a few ideas about the future of such work. To this day, economic development remains a backwater among law professors compared to sexier topics like criminal jurisdiction, civil authority over nonIndians, and whatever is the most recent opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court. But …

Fletcher's Uncertainty Principle, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Articles

am here to talk about the equal protection challenges facing Indian Country. I am going to give you my thesis right off the bat, which is that Haaland v. Brackeen decided the equal protection issue for us already, and we should behave as if it is decided.

I will explain what I mean by that. But first, let’s talk about what we will call the Mancari rule. The Mancari rule is fundamentally what Indian law is about, and it goes something like this—I am going to more or less paraphrase the guiding principle of Morton v. Mancari from 1974. Any …

Nanaboozhoo And Derrick Bell Go For A Walk, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Articles

When the Anishinaabeg were new to Anishinaabewaki, they knew little about how to fend for themselves. The animals and plants took pity on them and taught the Anishinaabeg. One winter, as the food stores of the Anishinaabeg were running out, an ininaatig (maple tree) saw an Anishinaabe innini (man) weakly scavenge for food. The ininaatig decided to offer part of itself to the Anishinaabeg. The ininaatig told the innini to cut off a branch. Ininaatigwabo, delicious, thick maple syrup, oozed from the stump. There was enough to feed the innini for many days. And there were many, many ininaatigoog …

Indigenous Peoples In International (Treaty) Diplomacy, Kristen A. Carpenter

Publications

International diplomacy has traditionally been considered the exclusive prerogative of states, who engage with each other on matters of peace, conflict, and trade with an eye to national interests and global wellbeing. This is one of a series of works considering "Indigenous Diplomacy"—a practice in which Indigenous Peoples engage with states, as well as other Indigenous Peoples, groups, and individuals in bilateral and multilateral settings, informed by Indigenous values, to advance rights, relationships, and remedies, as well as peace and security. This Article examines one category of Indigenous Diplomacy, namely the diplomatic processes surrounding modern and contemporary international treaties. With …

Ineligible Partners: Tribal Nations And Cooperative Federalism In The Historical Development Of National Forest Law And Policy, James H. Baker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Lands within the National Forest System (NFS), like all federal public lands, are rooted in Aboriginal Title and were once exclusively inhabited by Indigenous peoples and communities. Through the process of treaty-making, the federal government amassed millions of acres of ceded Tribal lands, many of which are now managed by federal public land agencies, including 194 million acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Several Tribes reserved various use and property rights on these lands that are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s Treaty and Supremacy Clauses. The federal government also has an overarching trust obligation to Tribes – a …

Front Pages

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Institutions And Economic Development, Ezra Rosser

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribal Authority To Issue Search Warrants To Non-Tribal Entities Or On Non-Indian Land Within Reservation Boundaries, Ivy K. Chase

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Into The Jurisdictionverse: How Tangled Jurisdictional Lines Around Indian Country Thwart Attempts To End The Crisis Of Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women, Evan Gamble

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Native Fight For Hunting Rights: The Crow Tribe And Herrera V. Wyoming, Jacob Lewis

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The “Arm” That Saves You Might Also Strangle You: The Impact Of Sovereign Immunity On Economic Arms Of Tribes And How It Could Affect Others’ Willingness To Contract With Them, Josh Pumphrey

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Need For Law In Federal Indian Law: A Response To Maggie Blackhawk In Light Of The Supreme Court’S Troubling Term For Tribal Sovereignty, Nicholas B. Mauer

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.