Indigenous Rights Movements & the Law

ASU Law Student Radio · Episode

Institutions across the U.S. returned more than 10,300 Native American ancestors to tribes in 2024, making it the third-biggest year for repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

On the test case that provoked the courts to decide whether the federal government had jurisdiction to exercise American criminal law over Native peoples on Native lands.

1,163 likes, 17 comments - lakotalaw on March 6, 2025: "Hundreds of supporters in Mesa, Arizona showed their support in a community vigil for Emily Pike, a 14-year-old girl from the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona who was found in two separate trash bags on Feb. 14 near Globe, Arizona. She was identified last Friday and had ran away from a group home in Arizona. The perpetrators of the crime have not been apprehended. Shannon Bollinger, Navajo Nation, shares what brought her to show her support. #mmiw #mmip".

Native American activist moves to home imprisonment after Joe Biden commuted sentence at end of presidency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 15, 2025 Belcourt, ND – To welcome Leonard Peltier back to his homelands after 49 years...

This site tracks anti-immigrant litigation across the country, follows them through the court system, and houses important filings, news coverage, and advocacy tools to advance a more humane, moral and dignified immigration system.

A comprehensive and dynamic catalogue of immigration policies issued by the Trump administration since January 2017.

For Indian Tribes, there is great trepidation about the coming era.

Analysis of Trump’s 2025 executive orders and their impacts on tribal entities, from tax status and energy policy to federal recognition and contracting opportunities

Asset Bank

Welcome to The Tribal Court Clearinghouse

Tribal and CFR Courts There are approximately 400 Tribal justice systems throughout the Nation. These courts are partially funded through Public Law 638 Tribal Priority Allocations (TPA). Tribal sovereignty is protected throughout the Tribal justice system or through a traditional court.

The National Congress of American Indians - Defending Sovereignty since 1944

The Tribal Law and Policy Institute is proud to offer free copies of our publications, work product created through various grants and partnerships since 1996.

At least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico have reported being stopped at their homes and workplaces, questioned or detained by federal law enforcement and asked to produce proof of citizenship during immigration raids since Wednesday, according to Navajo Nation officials.

Group takes steps to protect members after ‘traumatizing’ reports of people being stopped or detained by agents

Learn about the University of Arizona's Land Acknowledgment honoring 22 Indigenous tribes, including the O’odham and Yaqui, and its commitment to diversity.

The statement was assembled in consultation with leaders of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and with Native American scholars at the university.

Danny Lopez spent over 30 years teaching the Tohono O'odham Nation's traditional way of life to its people and surrounding community.

Deb Haaland, the country's first indigenous cabinet secretary, used her term at the Interior Department to make what activists say is irreversible impact in recognizing the painful history of the government's treatment Native Americans

A library book she found when she was 10 inspired Melanie McKay-Cody to pursue a career studying Native American sign languages. Now a researcher in the College of Education, she's one of the foremost experts at the intersection of Native and Deaf identity. She shares her story in this article and video.

Gov. Katie Hobbs said Wednesday she wants $7 million to speed up the repatriation of Native American human remains and artifacts.

Nationwide, nearly 17,000 homes on tribal lands still need electricity hook-ups. A majority are spread across the Navajo Nation, where climate change is making it harder for families to keep cool. A mutual aid program, however, has helped to change lives.

"Relationality is a core principle of Indigenous studies, yet there is relatively little work that assesses what building relations looks like in practice, especially in the messy context of Native nations' governance. Focusing on the unique history and context of Osage nation building efforts, this insightful ethnography provides a deeper vision of the struggles Native nation leaders are currently facing. Exploring the Osage philosophy of moving to a new country as a framework for relational governance, Jean Dennison shows that for the Osage, nation building is an ongoing process of reworking colonial constraints to serve the nation's own ends. As Dennison argues, Osage officials have undertaken deliberate changes to strengthen Osage relations to their language, self-governance, health, and land-core needs for a people to thrive now and into the future. Scholars and future Indigenous leaders can learn from the Osage Nation's past challenges, strategies, and ongoing commitments to better enact the difficult work of Indigenous nation building"--