TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY &

GOOD (NATIVE)
GOVERNANCE
Angela R. Riley
Professor of Law
Director, Native Nations Law and Policy Center

Questions to be Addressed:

What is unique about tribes in the federal

system?

How do Indians and Indian nations fit

within the democratic society that is
America?

What are the limits on federal protection

of Indian tribal autonomy?

What is Federal Indian

Law?

The body of law that regulates the

legal relationships between Indian
tribes and the US.

Compare: Tribal Law

What does it mean for Indian

nations to be pre-Constitutional?

Inherent Sovereignty

Treaties

Federal-Tribal Relationship

Indian Commerce Clause

Plenary Power

The Marshall Trilogy

Johnson v. McIntosh (1823)

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)

Rights of occupancy and a relationship of

trust

Domestic dependant nations

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

State law has no place in Indian country

Plenary Power
&
Unique Trust Obligations

Removal Act

1887 Allotment Act

Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903)

Morton v. Mancari (1974)

What is the status of tribes in

the U.S. today?

Heterogeneous

Tribalism is a driving force

Over 560 federally recognized tribes in the U.S.

Struggling to maintain sovereignty and a

measured separatism in the federal system

How and where do self-governing

indigenous groups fit into the
framework of a liberal democracy?

Conflict between assimilation and

accommodation

Individual v. Group Rights

Constitutional Inapplicability of the

Bill of Rights

Indian Civil Rights Act

(1968)

Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez (1978)

Freedom to preserve tribal culture, law, and

processes
Theocratic systems of governance

Indigenous justice systems

Gender based systems of governance

Are individual rights protected in tribal

communities?
U.S. v. Bryant (2016)
Mississippi Choctaw (2016)

Why Good (Native) Governance?

Tactical
Sovereignty is softening
Human rights culture
International Indigenous Peoples Human
rights movement

UN Declaration on the Rights

of Indigenous Peoples

Normative
Protecting the People = Protecting the Tribe
Reifying Respect for Human Rights

#NoDAPL #mniwiconi
#standwithstandingrock

Contemporary Issues
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