Contemporary federal court decisions, statutes, and presidential statements often provide strong support for tribal self-government. According to U.S. judicial doctrine, for example, tribal legal regimes survive as manifestations of indigenous sovereign powers, rather than as creations of federal law. In keeping with this notion, the Bill of Rights of the Constitution does not apply to actions of …
In order to make tribal sovereignty more meaningful, the U.S. Supreme Court has had to reject efforts by states and local governments to regulate activities in Indian Country. Like any other government, a tribe must be free to make choices about matters such as environmental quality, family life, and economic organization without outside interference. The Supreme Court has been emphatic that state…
In recent decades, Congress, like the Supreme Court, has often recognized and supported tribal sovereignty. Since the 1960s self-determination for Native American tribes has been the official federal policy, as is reflected in numerous pieces of congressional legislation. In 1975, for example, Congress enacted the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. This statute authorizes fede…
From 1776 to 1871, the United States made more than 400 treaties with Native American tribes, and nearly all of them were ratified by the Senate in the same manner as treaties with foreign nations. American expansion encountered varying levels of resistance, from guerrilla warfare in the swamps of Florida to great cavalry battles on the plains in the 1860s. In some instances, the government simply…
At the end of the treaty era, Native American tribes still controlled one-tenth of the contiguous 48 states, or about one-fourth of the land between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. Immigration from Europe accelerated, however, reaching its peak in the 1880s. The Indian Territory, and the large plains reservations, posed barriers to further settlement, but were protected by strong treaties…
Despite the often undermining influence of federal law, derivations of the earliest encountered Native American legal systems continue to function today in land set aside under federal protection for the residence of tribal Native Americans and in other areas collectively described in federal law as "Indian Country." Native American legal regimes have been transformed after years of contact with n…
The U.S. Congress asserts the right to define and limit, indeed to abolish, tribal law and government. It rests this power on Article I of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to regulate commerce "with the Native American tribes," to enter into treaties, to make war, and to exercise power over federal lands. Congress and the Supreme Court sometimes justify federal power by invoking the exi…
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