Indigenous Americans and the Law

This is a course about the laws and legal systems of the tribes and nations of Indigenous America. Although Indian nations are sovereign, and therefore purportedly free to govern themselves under laws they have made themselves, that sovereignty—and therefore the ability of Indian nations to enforce their own laws—is limited by the plenary power of the U.S. Congress.To understand that power, and the complicated legal regimes that it has produced, the course reviews the fraught history of the relations between Indigenous Americans and the U.S. government. The course covers topics related to the International Law doctrines of discovery and conquest that provided 17th and 18th century Europeans with a rationale for colonialism, removal, and settlement; key moments in Indigenous American/U.S. relations, such as Cherokee removal through the treaty period and the Age of Empire and the shifting legal environment that Indigenous Americans must navigate today; and current issues important to Indigenous Americans, for example, the authority of tribal courts over crimes and civil disputes, legal responses to violence against Indigenous women, tribal fishing, hunting and gathering rights, Indian gaming laws, custody and adoption of Indigenous children, and the protection of Indigenous religion and culture. Other topics of contemporary relevance will be added or substituted as needed.