Indigenous Rights Movements & the Law

When forces unite with no care for the Constitution, the rule of law or anything you learned in civics class, you can end up with the entrenched overreach of the Plenary Power Doctrine.

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision to return more than 3 million acres of land in Oklahoma to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The case, McGirt v. Oklahoma, has been described as one of the most significant Native American-related rulings in 100 years.The returned acreage in Oklahoma, including part of the city of Tulsa, is now recognized as “Indian Country,” as defined by federal law.

Tristan Ahtone of Grist magazine and K. Wayne Yang (a.k.a. la paperson) of the University of California San Diego will engage in an expansive dialogue on the...

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

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.

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

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.

Environmental groups are also petitioning Biden to protect Sáttítla, Kw’tsán and Chuckwalla in California

Chuckwalla and Sáttítla monuments in California will be safeguarded against extraction and energy development

After four dams were blasted from the Klamath River, the work to restore the ecosystem is under way

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

After 170 years of armed attacks, forced relocations, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of Native Americans, the U.S. military wants to celebrate.

The president of the Navajo Nation, one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S., has removed responsibilities from his vice president.

It's a product of climate change, which is causing wetter conditions across the upper Midwest, and manmade change to the river, altering its flow.

Many Native Americans are coming together for Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate and acknowledge the ongoing challenges they face with a focus on the election.

A complicated legal fight between the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Poarch Creek Indians could have ripple effects throughout Indian country

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which wants the oil pipeline shut down, says spills near Lake Oahe were environmental violations.

Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-ytWe're joined by award-winning Cherokee writer and journalist Rebecca Nagle, whose new book, By th...

Oak Flat, a mountainous area east of Phoenix, is an Apache sacred site where Native Americans gather to pray and perform coming-of-age ceremonies and sweat rituals.