Ex Parte Crow Dog

The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 was enacted at a time when Native American groups were involved in bringing about a resurgence in Native American cultures and demanding that their civil rights be recognized. North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin, Jr., received authorization from the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1961 to conduct hearings on the state of constitutional rights among Native Americans. Ervin introduced in 1965 nine bills designed to "provide our Indian citizens with the rights and protections conferred upon all other American citizens." The Senate debated these sporadically for the next three years until it passed them into law as the Indian Civil Rights Act. Among the act's measures were constitutional exemptions for tribal leadership to allow a greater measure of Indian self-government.

Meanwhile, Senator Robert Kennedy in 1967 conducted an investigation regarding the state of education among Native Americans and made proposals recommending that Indians run their own schools. Kennedy's panel, chaired by Edward Kennedy after his brother's assassination in 1968, issued its final report in 1969 and called for a number of self-governance measures consistent with those in the Indian Civil Rights Act.