The Insidious Colonialism of the Conqueror: The Federal Government in Modern Tribal Affairs

This Article focuses on the actions of federal agencies that often do not appear on the radar screen, either because no existing cause of action allows the tribes to bring suit in federal court to enjoin the government’s actions, or because federal law limits tribal sovereignty. Part II of this Article discusses four case studies: the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians’ struggle to retain its right to determine its own membership requirements; the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan’s response through its tribal court of appeals to federal intervention in a tribal election dispute; the erosion of tribal rights to restore lost land and expand economic development opportunities; and the continuing impact of the Bureau’s sale of Indian land without Indian consent. Part III places these case studies in the broader context of how federal bureaucratic actions have rendered meaningless critical aspects of self-determination. This portion of the Article argues that meaningful self-determination requires bureaucratic acknowledgement of Indian tribes’ exclusive right to determine membership; that Indian tribes must be allowed to decide internal disputes without any interference from the federal government; that Indian tribes must be allowed to restore the land base to a critical mass for each tribe in order to allow for adequate economic development activities; that Indian tribes retain a right to a remedy for the past violations of law of which they are a victim; and that, finally, Indian tribes have a right to a competent trustee. The Article concludes in Part IV with a bleak vision, describing areas of critical tribal interest in which the federal bureaucracy is likely to maintain its paternalistic attitudes. Nevertheless, much of what ground has been lost can be regained with a simple change toward recognition of principles of self-determination on the part of the federal bureaucracy

Federal Indian Law as Method

Morton v. Mancari is well-known in Indian law circles as a foundation for the tribal self-determination era, which is generally understood to have begun in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The case involved an Act of Congress that required the federal “Indian Office” (now called the Bureau of Indian Affairs) to grant preference in employment to “Indians.” The case is typically understood as the basis for analyzing how federal statutes that apply exclusively to Indian people do not implicate the anti-discrimination principles of the United States Constitution. This understanding of the case, while correct, is too narrow

Book Review: Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial That Forged a Nation

A citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations (MHA Nation), Raymond Cross has carried out unparalleled work as an Indian lawyer, a tribal advocate, and an Indian law scholar. Coyote Warrior chronicles Cross\u27s incredible journey from youngest child of a prominent Indian family to American Indian rights crusader, to his two triumphant appearances before the United States Supreme Court, to his lobbying efforts to secure compensation for the lost homelands of his nations. Paul VanDevelder\u27s journalistic style lends much to these tales that appeared before only in the oft-stale pages of the United States Reporter and Congressional hearing transcripts

Review of \u3ci\u3eAmerican Indians and the Fight for Equal Voting Rights\u3c/i\u3e by Laughlin McDonald

The continuing relevance of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act in the Deep South is an open question for many people, but the importance of the Act in Indian Country cannot seriously be questioned. Laughlin McDonald\u27s powerful book provides a frontline view of the cases brought by American Indians in Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, and elsewhere. McDonald, the head of the ACLO\u27s Voting Rights Project, himself litigated these cases to successful conclusion on behalf of his Native clients. In parts of the United States, many state and local governments quietly excluded Indian people from the suffrage until after World War II. Even where Indian people could vote, non-Indian governments used the same techniques used in the South that effectively undercut Indian political participation. In classic examples, governments established at-large voting for county commissions, rendering significant Native minority votes null by electing only the top vote-getters. The hated literacy requirements used to exclude African Americans in the South appeared in the Great Plains as well, with local governments either outright excluding Indians who spoke their Native language as a first language, or only printing ballots in English. These techniques were so effective that in some districts with a Native majority no Indian person was elected to any office for many decades

Sawnawgezewog: The Indian Problem and the Lost Art of Survival

Article published in the American Indian Law Review

Review of \u3ci\u3eAmerican Indians and the Fight for Equal Voting Rights\u3c/i\u3e by Laughlin McDonald

The continuing relevance of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act in the Deep South is an open question for many people, but the importance of the Act in Indian Country cannot seriously be questioned. Laughlin McDonald\u27s powerful book provides a frontline view of the cases brought by American Indians in Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, and elsewhere. McDonald, the head of the ACLO\u27s Voting Rights Project, himself litigated these cases to successful conclusion on behalf of his Native clients. In parts of the United States, many state and local governments quietly excluded Indian people from the suffrage until after World War II. Even where Indian people could vote, non-Indian governments used the same techniques used in the South that effectively undercut Indian political participation. In classic examples, governments established at-large voting for county commissions, rendering significant Native minority votes null by electing only the top vote-getters. The hated literacy requirements used to exclude African Americans in the South appeared in the Great Plains as well, with local governments either outright excluding Indians who spoke their Native language as a first language, or only printing ballots in English. These techniques were so effective that in some districts with a Native majority no Indian person was elected to any office for many decades

Sawnawgezewog: "The Indian Problem" and the Lost Art of Survival

Part I of this article examines three older Supreme Court decisions, the cases that form the backdrop of modem Indian Law as interpreted and enforced by federal courts, the federal government, and even Indian tribes. Part II examines five Supreme Court cases decided in the so-called Modem Era of Indian Law and the species of cases that followed each specific decision. Part III of this article explores a hypothetical scenario in which a small Indian tribe in Michigan learns that the mythical Fountain of Youth actually exists and that it is situated on land owned in trust for the benefit of the tribe by the federal government; how that tribe acquires self-reliance; and how Congress decides to solve the Indian Problem with one swift stroke. In its conclusion, this article calls for practitioners to assess the impact that federal and state litigation has on the everyday world of Indians throughout the United States. The meaning of Indian Law cases are right there on the page in black and white, buried beneath blank citations to the Marshall Trilogy, the Indian Reorganization Act, the special canon for construction of Indian statutes and treaties, and all the rest - the faceless boilerplate of Federal Indian Law. Most importantly, this article asks tribal attorneys (and tribal leaders) to look to a future where many Indian tribes will gamer unprecedented political power. We should be aware of the possible pitfalls and the potential advantages. All of the cases reviewed in this article have been carefully analyzed and revisited by academics and practitioners alike in a plethora of excellent books, articles, and other commentary.\u27 It is easy for new tribal attorneys to lose sight of the forest for all the trees when reviewing and analyzing Federal Indian Law. Yet it is all right there if one takes the time to look for it