Indigenous Rights & Tribal Sovereignty

"In 2016, thousands of people travelled to North Dakota to camp out near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to protest the construction of an oil pipeline that is projected to cross underneath the Missouri River a half mile upstream from the Reservation. The Standing Rock Sioux consider the pipeline a threat to the region's clean water and to the Sioux's sacred sites (such as its ancient burial grounds). The encamped protests garnered front-page headlines and international attention, and the resolve of the protesters was made clear in a red banner that flew above the camp: "Defend the Sacred". What does it mean when Native communities and their allies make such claims? What is the history of such claim-making, and why has this rhetorical and legal strategy - based on appeals to religious freedom - failed to gain much traction in American courts? As Michael McNally recounts in this book, Native Americans have repeatedly been inspired to assert claims to sacred places, practices, obj ects, knowledge, and ancestral remains by appealing to the discourse of religious freedom. But such claims based on alleged violations of the First Amendment "free exercise of religion" clause of the US Constitution have met with little success in US courts, largely because Native American communal traditions have been difficult to capture by the modern Western category of "religion." In light of this poor track record Native communities have gone beyond religious freedom-based legal strategies in articulating their sacred claims: in (e.g.) the technocratic language of "cultural resource" under American environmental and historic preservation law; in terms of the limited sovereignty accorded to Native tribes under federal Indian law; and (increasingly) in the political language of "indigenous rights" according to international human rights law (especially in light of the 2007 U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples). And yet the language of religious freedom, which resonat es powerfully in the US, continues to be deployed, propelling some remarkably useful legislative and administrative accommodations such as the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Reparation Act. As McNally's book shows, native communities draw on the continued rhetorical power of religious freedom language to attain legislative and regulatory victories beyond the First Amendment"--;"The remarkable story of the innovative legal strategies Native Americans have used to protect their religious rights. From North Dakota's Standing Rock encampments to Arizona's San Francisco Peaks, Native Americans have repeatedly asserted legal rights to religious freedom to protect their sacred places, practices, objects, knowledge, and ancestral remains. But these claims have met with little success in court because Native American communal traditions don't fit easily into modern Western definitions of religion. In Defend the Sacred, Michael McNally explores how, in response to this situation, Native peoples have creatively turned to other legal means to safeguard what matters to them. To articulate their claims, Native peoples have resourcefully used the languages of cultural resources under environmental and historic preservation law; of sovereignty under treaty-based federal Indian law; and, increasingly, of Indigenous rights under international human rights law. Along the way, Native nations still draw on the rhetorical power of religious freedom to gain legislative and regulatory successes beyond the First Amendment. The story of Native American advocates and their struggle to protect their liberties, Defend the Sacred casts new light on discussions of religious freedom, cultural resource management, and the vitality of Indigenous religions today"--

The first legal history of the first tribal court upends long-held misconceptions about the origins of Westernized tribal jurisprudence. This book demonstrates how the Cherokee people—prior to their removal on the Trail of Tears—used their judicial system as an external exemplar of American legal values, while simultaneously deploying it as a bulwark for tribal culture and tradition in the face of massive societal pressure and change. Extensive case studies document the Cherokee Nation's exercise of both criminal and civil jurisdiction over American citizens, the roles of women and language in the Supreme Court, and how the courts were used to regulate the slave trade among the Cherokees. Although long-known for its historical value, the legal significance of the Cherokee Supreme Court has not been explored until now.

"In the American imagination "the West" denotes a border--between civilization and wilderness, past and future, native and newcomer--and its lawlessness is legendary. In fact, there was an abundance of law in the West, as in all borderland regions of vying and overlapping claims, jurisdictions, and domains. It is this legal borderland that Beyond the Borders of the Law explores. Combining the concepts and insights of critical legal studies and western/borderlands history, this book demonstrates how profoundly the North American West has been, and continues to be, a site of contradictory, overlapping, and overreaching legal structures and practices steeped in articulations of race, gender, and power. The authors in this volume take up topics and time periods that include Native history, the US-Canada and US-Mexico borders, regions from Texas to Alaska and Montana to California, and a chronology that stretches from the mid-nineteenth century to the near-present. From water rights to women's rights, from immigrant to indigenous histories, from disputes over coal deposits to child custody, their essays chronicle the ways in which marginalized westerners have leveraged and resisted the law to define their own rights and legacies. For the authors, legal borderlands might be the legal texts that define and regulate geopolitical borders, or they might be the ambiguities or contradictions creating liminal zones within the law. In their essays, and in the volume as a whole, the concept of legal borderlands proves a remarkably useful framework for finally bringing a measure of clarity to a region characterized by lawful disorder and contradiction. "--;"In popular culture, the American West is generally thought of as a lawless place, full of gunfights and vigilante justice. In this edited collection, which comes out of the Clements Center's annual symposium program, Katrina Jagodinsky and Pablo Mitchell bring together a cast of scholars who show that, far from being lawless, the West was actually home to a multitude of overlapping laws and legal systems. Contributors will address how race, gender, and citizenship intersect with issues around water and natural resource rights, crime and punishment, health care, property rights, and child custody fights. While critical legal studies--advanced by such people as UPK author Lawrence Friedman--has been a strong field since the 80s, and Western/borderlands history has similarly been a vibrant field, the two have never really come together in a solid way. Jagodinsky and Mitchell hope to correct that through this vibrant collection that puts critical legal scholars and historians in conversation"--

"Interrogating the concept of environmental justice in the U.S. as it relates to Indigenous peoples, this book argues that a different framework must apply compared to other marginalized communities, while it also attends to the colonial history and structure of the U.S. and ways Indigenous peoples continue to resist, and ways the mainstream environmental movement has been an impediment to effective organizing and allyship"--

Baffled by the stereotypes presented by Hollywood and much historical fiction, many other Americans find the contemporary American Indian an enigma. Compounding their confusion is the highly publicized struggle of the contemporary Indian for self-determination, lost land, cultural preservation, and fundamental human rights--a struggle dramatized both by public acts of protest and by precedent-setting legal actions. More and more, the battles of American Indians are fought--and won--in the political arena and the courts. American Indians, American Justice explores the complexities of the present Indian situation, particularly with regard to legal and political rights. It is the first book to present an overview of federal Indian law in language readably accessible to the layperson. Remarkably comprehensive, it is destined to become a standard sourcebook for all concerned with the plight of the contemporary Indian. Beginning with an examination of the historical relationship of Indians and the courts, the authors describe how tribal courts developed and operate today, and how they relate to federal and state governments. They define such key legal concepts as tribal sovereignty and Indian Country. By comparing and contrasting the workings of Indian and non-Indian legal institutions, the authors illustrate how Indian tribes have adapted their customs, values, and institutions to the demands of the modern world. Describing the activities of attorneys and Indian advocates in asserting and defending Indian rights, they identify the difficulties typically faced by Indians in the criminal and civil legal arenas and explore the public policy and legal rights of Indians as regards citizenship, voting rights, religious freedom, and basic governmental services.

In this Short Take, the Guys talk about broken treaties between the government and indigenous people.

How did activist Amanda Blackhorse feel when the announcement to change the name of Washington D.C.'s football team was made? "I am very cynical when it comes to the team and their intentions, just because of their history and how they've interacted or not interacted with native people."Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

The American Law Institute is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law.

Kathryn talks with Thomasina Real Bird, Angelique EagleWoman, Paulene Abeyta, Christina McDonogh, and Aidan Graybill about the exclusion of Native voices in The Center for Women in Law and The NALP Foundation's study, “Women of Color – A Study of Law Student Experiences”. They discuss the NALP study, then walk through the 4 identified issues with the survey. They also talk about the NALP response to the criticisms and why that isn't a sufficient response. Finally, they discuss the unique issues facing Native American law students and what work is needed to address them.   Episode Resources Thomasina Real Bird:   Angelique EagleWoman: Paulene Abeyta:     Episode Highlights The guests for today’s episode - 0:46 A Women of Color study - 2:30 Native voices - 5:05 Exclusion of Native Americans from the study - 5:53 Concerns with the study - 6:47 Their feelings about the study - 12:25 Having a wrong reaction - 13:40 Law school students - 16:28 Increasing diversity in the legal profession - 17:51 Trying to increase visibility - 21:02 Working and being inclusive - 24:00   Subscribe, Share and Review To get the next episode subscribe with your favorite podcast player. Subscribe with Follow on Leave a review on

In this lecture, Dr. Lindsey Robertson gives an historical introduction to the complicated issues surrounding Native Americans and the Constitution. From the time of ratification onward, a gradual process of incorporating Indians into the American constitutional system has resulted in a somewhat idiosyncratic scheme of rights and powers retained by Indian tribes.

This program is sponsored by the American Indian Library Association and the International Responsibilities Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table The struggle to defend the treaty rights of Native Americans has been long and difficult. But the Covid-19 pandemic has presented new challenges to the protection of the voting rights, the environment, and the health and safety of Native American communities. Our panel will address these issues, and what you can do to help. (This webinar was recorded on June 29, 2020) Panelists: Tadd Johnson - Senior Director of American Indian Tribal Nations Relations, University of Minnesota Winona LaDuke - Activist and Executive Director of Honor the Earth Dallin Maybee - Assistant Director of Development, Native American Rights Fund Moderators: Cindy Hohl - President-Elect of the American Indian Library Association Tom Twiss - Co-Chair, SRRT's International Responsibilities Task Force Learn more about the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) on their website: http://www.ala.org/rt/srrt

OPENING BLESSING Jonathan Perry (Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head [Aquinnah]), tribal councilman WELCOME (7:36) Lizabeth Cohen, dean of the Radcliffe Institute and Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies in the Department of History, Harvard University INTRODUCTION (19:28) Daniel Carpenter, faculty director of the social sciences program at the Radcliffe Institute, member of the Provost’s Advisory Council on Native and Indigenous Issues, and Allie S. Freed Professor of Government in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University PANEL 1: NATIVE LAW AND LEGAL STRATEGY (33:10) Moderated by Maggie McKinley (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe), Climenko Fellow and lecturer on law, Harvard Law School (39:13) Richard Guest, attorney, Tribal Supreme Court Project, Native American Rights Fund (1:06:22) Diane J. Humetewa (Hopi), United States district judge, United States District Court, District of Arizona Q&A (1:36:59)

Film deals with the work of the Native American Rights Fund in its efforts to protect the rights of American Indians in cases involving treaty rights, ownership of natural resources on tribal lands, and trust relationships with the Federal Government. AV 2962 From the Ford Foundation records, Audiovisual materials Series 1, Ford Foundation Films Finding Aid: FA750 Color, Sound, English language Originally 16mm film on VHS Duration: 60 minutes

The Treaty of Fort Laramie is an agreement between the United States and the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota, and Arapaho Nation, following the failure of the first Fort Laramie treaty, signed in 1851.

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was signed on September 17, 1851 between United States treaty commissioners and representatives of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations. Also known as Horse Creek Treaty, the treaty set forth traditional territorial claims of the tribes.

The Tribal Court Clearinghouse - Complete Text of Indian Civil Rights Act

When we think of the system of government in the United States, many of us typically think of the federal and the state governments. But tribal governments are also significant systems of law that have been integral to the formation of democracy in the U.S.

Fall 2006 issue of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Challenges to institutionalized racism have been largely framed in terms of equitable access to, and redistribution of, the wealth and power accumulated and con

Aboriginal, Native American, Indian, or Indigenous Peoples laws all generally refer to American laws relating to Native Americans, also known as American

While treaties between Indigenous peoples and the United States affect virtually every area in the USA, there is as yet no official list of all the treaties. The US National Archives holds 374 of the treaties, where they are known as the Ratified Indian Treaties. Here you can view them for the first time with key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of our shared lands.

Many Native American tribes have received official recognition from the US government and have been granted economic, political, social, and cultural rights.

Over the last two decades, the environmental justice movement has evolved into a recognized social movement within the United States that merges civil rights with environmental protection.

Below you will find tips and historical information on legal protections for Native Americans and other native peoples. Choose a link to get started.Protecting the

Published in History: Reviews of New Books (Vol. 3, No. 8, 1975)