Native American Law

Longstanding United States Supreme Court precedent recognizes that American Indian tribes are pre-constitutional sovereign nations, and thus, are outside the dictates of federal and state constitutional principles. Similarly, the United States Supreme Court has held that internal tribal matters fall within a tribe's exclusive jurisdiction. However, in Gilbert v. Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, the South Dakota Supreme Court adjudicated an internal employment dispute between a tribal member and a tribal government employer. Although the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the Tribe's decision to terminate its employee as proper, the court arguably infringed upon tribal sovereignty by mistakenly applying both federal and state constitutional law. Furthermore, the court diluted tribal authority by failing to address fundamental federal Indian law principles of tribal sovereign immunity and tribal court jurisdiction. Consequently, the South Dakota Supreme Court has granted to the state, civil regulatory authority over tribes without any express consent by the tribe which overlooks federal law and United States Supreme Court precedent on the issue. It is imperative for tribes in South Dakota to restructure their administrative laws and procedures to reflect what other tribes across the nation have created to protect tribal sovereignty and tribal court jurisdiction over inherent tribal matters from expanding state jurisdiction.

With this summary in mind, we turn to the current federal standards for sex offender registration and notification as a starting point for discussing sex offender registration and notification systems across the country. II. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act On July 27, 1981, Adam Walsh was abducted at a department store in Hollywood, Florida, where his mother was shopping. 5 On August 10th, two weeks after his abduction, a local fisherman discovered Adam's decapitated head in a drainage canal in Vero Beach, Florida, approximately 100 miles from Hollywood. Adam was asphyxiated, but because his body was never found, further investigation was stymied. After his son's tragic death, John Walsh became a national advocate for victims of violent crime and was the host of a television program geared to finding fugitives. 6 Twenty-five years to the day after Adam's abduction, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was signed into law. Title I of the Act is the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). The majority of SORNA's provisions are now codified at 34 U.S.C. § § 20901-20945. SORNA has been supplemented by certain administrative actions and amended in part by certain pieces of legislation as follows (listed by the language commonly used to reference them): • The Interim Rule-governing SORNA's retroactive application; 7

В своей книге кандидат культурологии О.Е. Данчевская исследует современный этап развития индейских культур и приходит к выводу, что он характеризуется стремлением индейцев улучшить своё положение путём дальнейшего развития своих культурных традиций, получения образования, включающего изучение родного языка, подъёма собственной активности и их надеждой на понимание и поддержку государства.
  Проводя собственные интервью американских индейцев, О.Е. Данчевская подчёркивает, что индейские культуры Северной Америки, начиная со второй половины XX века, переживают стадию возрождения, характеризующуюся ростом их этнического самосознания, политической и культурной активности, поиском культурной идентичности. Автор рассматривает особенности американской культурной политики, базирующейся на идее мультикультурализма, но вместе с тем выделяет существенные препятствия в достижении индивидуального культурного развития индейских этносов.
  В монографии поэтапно прослеживается тот факт, что автохтонному населению США, несмотря на аккультурацию и в значительной степени ассимиляцию с евро-американской культурой, удалось сохранить свою индивидуальность.
  Книга адресована всем, кто интересуется индеанистикой, культурологией, этнологией.

Ensuring the rights of Native American has been an issue for so long in the history of U.S. politics. This is because the issue has been prolonged, even long before the United States stands, precisely since the colonial era. Native American's life changed dramatically when the explorers from Europe began to discover America in the late 15th century. They deal with the problems with many European immigrants who have coming and settling in America, which became known as the white community. Moreover, Native American also has to deal with government policies that seek to get rid and assimilate them into the cultures of white community. The election of Barack Obama as president in 2009, then become a new hope in the effort of ensuring the rights of Native American. Obama's background as an Afro-American raises a question: whether his leadership would positively impacts the lives of Native American. One of Obama's efforts to achieve this goal is the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA) of 2010. Through TLOA, Obama seeks to resolve the problems that occur in Indian Country, especially law enforcement.
In this research the author attempted to explain the actors who encourage the issuance of TLOA, as well as how the political dynamics that led the U.S. government issued this policy to ensure the rights of Native American. Through the pluralist model in public policy analysis, it was found that Barack Obama as the government elite (internal) and the National Congress of American Indians as interest groups (external) influence on the legalization of TLOA. Obama's background and his goal to realize the American Dream became the impetus for the American government in setting TLOA. The theory of interest groups in policy-making can also explain the role of NCAI as part of the American democratic political system in encouraging the issuance of this policy.

GOD & Apple Pie
Religious Myths and Visions of America

Two sample chapters (by publisher's permission):
1.  Native American Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 2)
2.  Black Muslim Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 9)

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/God-Apple-Pie-Religious-Visions/dp/1891928155/

From the Inside Flap;

GOD & Apple Pie
Religious Myths and Visions of America

Christopher Buck

Introduction by J. Gordon Melton,
Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University

This book is about an unusual religious topic: the United States of America ("America").
"America" is, at once, nation and notion, country and creed, republic and rhetoric. This book is about Providence and principle--the relationship of the supernatural world to the world's superpower. "America" is not in the Bible, nor in the Qur'an. Yet "America" today pulsates with religious significance. "America" is a word that has taken on mythic proportions.

Eleven religions have been selected for their distinctive perspectives on America: (1) Native American religion (Iroquois); (2) Protestant Christianity (the Puritans); (3) the Christian Right; (4) Roman Catholicism; (5) Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist); (6) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons); (7) Christian Identity (White nationalists); (8) Nation of Islam (Black nationalists); (9) Islam (especially Radical Islamists and Progressive Muslims); (10) Buddhism (Tibetan and Soka Gakkai); and (11) the Baha'i Faith.

Over the course of American history, religious myths and visions of America tend to reflect an ever-changing American civil society, whether as a function of its social evolution or as a catalyst of it. The result is: Religions re-mythologize America. And: Religions re-envision America.

God & Apple Pie invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.

This text asks how a greater familiarity with European law would change our vision of colonial territories, most particularly, Latin America. Concentrating on the study of immemorial and native customs in both European and American territories, it argues that these customs were not necessarily ancient or authentic. Instead, they authorised making legal exceptions to the general rule in a legal universe that was dramatically different from our own. They sustained the existence and legitimacy of a local juridical sphere while also maintaining the importance of a common, cross-Christian, legal understanding. By showcasing what practitioners, jurists, theologians, and scholars have said about customs during the early modern period and since, the aim is not to criticise what had been done by others but to offer a useful framework that would allow us to meaningfully merge the multiplicity of voices historians have already recovered, as well as supply those who work on these issues with the necessary background.

The 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act authorized establishment of an advisory committee to carry out a long list of specific duties. Chartered on August 20, 1991, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee has held 42 meetings over the subsequent 19 years. The review committee's responsibilities include monitoring the summary, inventory, and repatriation process; facilitating the resolution of disputes; compiling an inventory of culturally unidentifiable human remains and recommending specific actions for their disposition; consulting with the Secretary of the Interior in the development of regulations; and submitting an annual report to Congress. This paper examines the review committee's establishment and activities and assesses its effectiveness.

This article presents a three-part strategy to better combat domestic violence in Alaska Native communities: cooperation among sovereigns must be encouraged; community-based, culturally-sensitive models that respond to domestic violence in Alaska Native communities should be employed; and the State of Alaska should actively encourage the development of tribal courts to offer victims alternative forms of dispute resolution. The author argues that Alaska Native tribes should exercise regulatory civil jurisdiction over domestic violence crimes in their communities. First laying the foundation for a discussion of legal remedies available to Native Alaskans by briefly examining the limitations on tribal jurisdiction in Alaska, the article then goes on to discuss the remedies that are currently available to Alaska Native victims of domestic violence. Expanding from the Alaska Supreme Court’s monumental decision in John v. Baker, the article posits that Alaska’s courts should recognize tribal jurisdiction in domestic violence cases. This article seeks to elucidate effective ways to help Alaska Native victims of domestic violence to achieve justice and receive protection from their abusers.

Angeles and is a member of the California state bar. Prior to entering private practice, he served as the Director of Litigation for California Indian Legal Services, a statewide Indian legal services program. He has practiced in the area of federal Indian law, including cases involving the protection of Indian water rights, since 1976.

On April 25, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lewis v. Clarke, a case involving the scope of Mohegan sovereign immunity. The substance of the decision—an employee of Mohegan Sun Casino was acting on his own and not protected by Mohegan's immunity—focused on general immunity rules. One commentator pointed to an ominous sign—which should be a wakeup call to Native Nations' lawyers: "The court declined to reconsider … core issues of the scope of tribal sovereignty (such as whether there should be any separate tribal sovereignty). Although recent opinions have teed up these questions...."  the Supreme Court has "teed up" the question "whether there should be any separate tribal sovereignty." If Native Nations fail to challenge the presumption that the U.S. "owns" Native Nations' lands, they leave the field to parties who want to "terminate" Indigenous sovereignty and land rights altogether. These are pre-colonial, pre-U.S. Constitution rights, equally significant as civil rights. The battle looms; where are the warriors?

The Seminole Nation has a high profile in litigation about Indian gaming. In 1991, the Seminole sued the State of Florida under the U.S. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The Seminole argued Florida had violated IGRA's requirement of "good faith negotiation," by refusing to negotiate inclusion of certain activities in a tribal-state gaming compact. Now the Seminole are back in court, with another Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida lawsuit, again in federal district court—this time about renewing a section of the gaming compact the two parties eventually finalized in 2010. When the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the first Seminole lawsuit against Florida, it stated IGRA "grants the States a power that they would not otherwise have, viz., some measure of authority over gaming on Indian lands." The Seminole lawyers pointed out the same thing: "IGRA empowers the states; it does not encroach upon their rights. Before IGRA, the states had no power to regulate gaming on tribal lands."
But the Seminole did not challenge the IGRA expansion of state power over Indian Territory. They only wanted to enforce the IGRA provision allowing them to sue Florida In fact, the Seminole brief embraced "Congress' complete power over the Tribes (!)" and said "IGRA's grant of power to the states, conditioned … on the duty to negotiate in good faith with Indian tribes, is protective of federalism." What about protective of Native sovereignty?

This article explores the costs and benefits of publishing tribal law. Part I analyzes why tribal law is not more widely available; part II illustrates the benefits of making tribal law more accessible, and part III describes publication options for tribes. An appendix lists currently available tribal law collections.

The rhetoric of "self-government" requires careful analysis. The surface looks appealing, since it seems to support what Native Peoples are demanding; but beneath the glittering surface lurk difficult and dangerous assumptions and institutional forces. In the Spanish case, "self-government" policy presumed Native Peoples would abandon their Indigenous modes of life and adopt Christian modes—including modes of land ownership and political leadership. In the United States, federal "government-to-government" programs presume that Native Peoples will subordinate themselves to settler-state extractive economic programs and land laws based on Christian Discovery claims.

В настоящей статье автор подробно останавливается на вопросе, на сегодняшний день очень актуальном для многих регионов мира – репатриации человеческих останков и предметов культурного наследия. В США идеи культурного плюрализма поощряют коренное население отстаивать свои права, но, как показывает история, этот путь всегда был усеян препятствиями, и начало XXI века – не исключение, т.к. вопрос до конца ещё не разрешён, хотя и произошло немало положительных сдвигов.
В статье предлагается краткий обзор из истории репатриации индейских человеческих останков и культурных ценностей с момента начала активной борьбы коренных американцев за право распоряжаться останками своих далёких предков в 1971 году; называются ведущие американские и индейские организации, занимающиеся этой проблемой; указываются основные законопроекты в данной области, главный из которых – Акт «О защите индейских захоронений и репатриации» (NAGPRA), вышедший в 1990 году, и более подробно рассматриваются его положения.
Подчёркивается, что репатриация затрагивает многие как практические, так и этические вопросы, провоцируя серьёзное противостояние между индейцами и учёными (в частности – археологами). Автор постарался взвесить различные взгляды и подходы и привести аргументы обеих сторон в этом споре, который раскрывает многолетний конфликт между государственной властью и аборигенным населением. Сложность ситуации как раз и заключается в том, что каждая сторона по-своему права. Зачастую само законодательство ставит учёных в жесткие рамки, что заставляет некоторых из них высказывать опасения по поводу жизнеспособности американской археологии как науки.
Стремясь наиболее широко и объективно представить картину происходящего, автор указывает на всевозможные примеры – от тесного сотрудничества и взаимодействия между индейцами и учёными, обмена знаниями и информацией до запрета на проведение дальнейших исследований. В качестве яркой иллюстрации всех трудностей, с которыми приходится сталкиваться, приводится случай, получивший название «Кенневикский человек», разбирательство по которому началось в 1996 году и не закончено до сих пор. Именно отдельные случаи становятся толчком к внесению поправок в уже принятые законы и к разработке новых. Можно сказать, что общая тенденция «индейского возрождения» как в культурной, так и в политической сферах, начавшаяся ещё во второй половине XX века, явилась положительным импульсом для американских властей в работе и над этим пунктом «индейского вопроса». 
Автор называет ряд аспектов, о которых учёным могут рассказать человеческие останки, и приводит примеры, когда подобные исследования помогали разрешать современные проблемы племён. В то же время не стоит забывать и об особом, часто сакральном отношении коренных американцев к праху предков и ко многим предметам, что объясняет нежелание индейцев допускать внешнее вмешательство в их культуру.
Несмотря на то, что окончательное и универсальное решение по вопросу репатриации индейских человеческих останков пока не принято и, скорее всего, полностью удовлетворить пожелания обеих сторон вряд ли удастся, автор делает вывод, что добиться в этом реальных успехов вполне возможно. Один из таких путей – взаимные уважение, сотрудничество, общение и помощь. Автор отмечает, что курс, выбранный американским правительством, позволяет надеяться на разумное решение, не ущемляющее ничьих интересов, прав и свобод и ведущее к объединению усилий ради сохранения культурного наследия исконных жителей Америки.

""""""In 1989, The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) was successfully passed after a long and intense struggle. One year later, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) followed. These federal repatriation statutes—arguably some of the most important laws in the history of anthropology, museology, and American Indian rights—enabled Native Americans to reclaim human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.

Twenty years later, the controversy instigated by the creation of NMAIA and NAGPRA continues to simmer. In the Smaller Scope of Conscience is a thoughtful and detailed study of the ins and outs of the four-year process behind these laws. It is a singular contribution to the history of these issues, with the potential to help mediate the ongoing debate by encouraging all sides to retrace the steps of the legislators responsible for the acts.

Few works are as detailed as McKeown’s account, which looks into bills that came prior to NMAIA and NAGPRA and combs the legislative history for relevant reports and correspondence. Testimonies, documents, and interviews from the primary players of this legislative process are cited to offer insights into the drafting and political processes that shaped NMAIA and NAGPRA.

Above all else, this landmark work distinguishes itself from earlier legislative histories with the quality of its analysis. Invested and yet evenhanded in his narrative, McKeown ensures that this journey through history—through the strategies and struggles of different actors to effect change through federal legislation—is not only accurate but eminently intriguing.""""""

In the .pdf you will find the announcement in English for an international conference to be held May 18, 2012, in Irun, Euskal Herria (Basque Country) sponsored by Jauzarrea (see below). The conference is entitled Atlantiar: Human Traces on the Atlantic Façade of Europe. The first conference in the series of four that are programmed examines territories around the Bay of Biscay with a focus on the Palaeolithic. The document contains a description of the conference and registration materials.

What follows is a description of Jauzarrea in Spanish outlinging the projects has supported in the past and the areas of research currently is promoting. The material below also includes an interview with the director of Jauzarrea, Xabi Otero, a well-known Basque historian, writer and photographer.


Un grupo de trabajo consolidado
La Editorial Txoria Errekan, con sede en Jauzarrea (Arraiotz), ha realizado desde 1984 más de 200 publicaciones en el ámbito del patrimonio cultural del País Vasco. Xabi Otero es su responsable y como consecuencia de esa tarea, ha concebido una doble idea: la creación de una institución estable, JAUZARREA –como fondo para el estudio y difusión de la Cultura Vasca– y el desarrollo del proyecto temporal, ATLANTIAR, como una herramienta para reunir el conocimiento más actualizado sobre la historia de los vascos.

Antecedentes.
Xabi explica la génesis del proyecto: “Desde 1972 he desarrollado mi labor en el ámbito profesional, estableciendo una sólida amistad con muchas de las personas con las que he trabajado. Gracias a la cantidad y diversidad de temas que he tenido que tratar, he atesorado un conocimiento sobre muchas materias que tiene dos vertientes realmente interesantes.

Por una parte, el proceso de aprendizaje me ha proporcionado una visión general muy completa para establecer conexiones e interacciones y plantear así un proyecto de divulgación de gran envergadura como es ATLANTIAR.

Por otra, el tejido de relaciones que he establecido, permite aglutinar a esas personas que constituyen, con su sabiduría, un aval científico para el proyecto –por el conocimiento que han acumulado sobre diversas facetas del ser humano, y porque la información que poseen es de primera mano, generada por sus propias investigaciones–, en torno a la editorial TXORIA ERREKAN.

Con esos elementos he implicado en el proyecto a un grupo cualificado de personas de mi entorno, artistas, investigadores, generadores de nuevas materias, gestores en diversos ámbitos, profesionales. Personas creativas que abarcamos el abanico de oficios que se da en nuestra sociedad; personas con ilusión y con una particular manera de encarar nuestro futuro juntos, desarrollando en la medida de lo posible la innovación cultural.

La calidad y el entusiasmo de este grupo humano lo convierten en el motor de una institución estable, JAUZARREA, constituida como fondo para el estudio y difusión de la cultura vasca desde Euskal Herria.

El conjunto de expertos que participan en el programa de congresos ATLANTIAR –integrado en su mayor parte por investigadores de otros países–, constituye un sólido núcleo científico de alto valor, con un bagaje profesional tras de sí rotundo”.

JAUZARREA desarrolla un modelo de gestión que permite:

• Difundir la cultura en la sociedad de manera dinámica y efectiva.

• Impulsar el conocimiento para mejorar la percepción de la cultura, especialmente cuestiones con implicación en las relaciones sociales.

•  Crear conexiones interculturales –la relación entre culturas, común a varias culturas– y multiculturales –convivencia de diversas culturas–.

•  Combinar actividades en los ámbitos del patrimonio material e inmaterial, potenciando estudio, investigación y difusión de la cultura de los vascos y su interrelación con la de otros pueblos indígenas.

•  Consolidar y ampliar la base social con personas que constituyen el soporte en red que impulsa el proyecto.

JAUZARREA gestiona difusión de nuestra cultura, con presencia en proyectos de instituciones colaboradoras, aunando disciplinas necesarias para regenerar la información, con una dinámica activa de investigación y una divulgación fluida en la sociedad.

Una herramienta: el programa de congresos ATLANTIAR.
ATLANTIAR es un programa con cuatro congresos sobre la historia de los vascos, que se desarrollarán en 2012 y 2013, abordando cada uno de ellos el análisis multidisciplinar de un período histórico:

•  PALEOLITÍCO, desde hace 45.000 años hasta el final del Magdaleniense.

•  SOCIEDADES PRODUCTORAS, desde el Neolítico hasta el final de la Edad del Hierro.

•  NUEVA ERA, desde los vascones prerromanos hasta la invasión del Reino de Navarra en 1512, por las tropas de las coronas de Castilla y Aragón.

• ERA MODERNA, desde 1512 hasta el presente.

Con este programa, los más de 100 expertos internacionales vinculados al proyecto, nos acercan a los resultados de sus investigaciones, con una línea de trabajo en la que confluyen todas aquellas evidencias de vanguardia, que tienen que ver con nuestra cultura y modos de vida. Se trabaja en una dirección compartida, liderada por JAUZARREA. Creando un corpus de conocimiento accesible, cuyo resultado será un proyecto editorial de amplio espectro, que reúna a estos autores de más de 40 instituciones científicas participantes. Desarrollando una campaña de marketing cultural en permanente evolución, dando a conocer nuestro bagaje creativo.

ATLANTIAR es un modelo integrador y riguroso de estudio que trabaja la clarificación de conceptos, renovando la información con nuevas lecturas, con la ayuda de los avances en ciencia y tecnología. Arma un corpus de conocimiento para ser canalizado e instalado a través de las instituciones participantes, para cohabitar –con sus señas de identidad, las de la cultura vasca–, con el resto de cátedras o grados que sean impartidos, dando a conocer nuestra historia y cómo ésta se articula y se entremezcla con la del resto del mundo. Creando y potenciando un modelo de referencia, del mismo modo que se utilizan conceptos específicos que definen e identifican a otras culturas.

Se desarrollan este y otros proyectos –estableciendo sinergias con grupos de trabajo–, que emitan una imagen de nuestra sociedad y cultura como referente de identidad y de prestigio. Creando una fuente para consulta de la cronología histórica sobre la civilización de los grupos de primeros pobladores europeos y su devenir hasta el día de hoy, como el conjunto de la población vasca.

Ejemplo práctico de un objetivo concreto: OREINA URKIAN KANATA.

A la par que cumplimos con el programa de congresos, se desarrolla en este caso un proyecto tan importante como el matriz, ATLANTIAR, ya que lo complementa, y constituye un adelanto de lo que será la puesta en práctica de JAUZARREA, como centro operativo de investigación y difusión.

En 2010, JAUZARREA presentó el proyecto OREINA URKIAN KANATA a la UPV/EHU, para efectuar una búsqueda de linajes genéticos vascos en los Pobladores de las Primeras Naciones. El Congreso Internacional Tras la estela de los balleneros vascos: Patrimonio Cultural y Genético de Vascos y Nativos Americanos del Atlántico Norte, celebrado el 21 y 22 de setiembre de 2011, en el Paraninfo de la UPV/EHU de Bilbao (BIZKAIA ARETOA), supuso el comienzo del proyecto, con objeto de poner al día la información existente sobre estas relaciones.

La búsqueda de los linajes de ADN –que la población vasca pudo haber aportado desde la baja edad media hasta el siglo XX–, se justifica por el intenso comercio establecido con los nativos desde el inicio de los viajes al litoral Atlántico Americano, llevado a cabo por nuestros pescadores de bacalao, cazadores de ballenas y tratantes de pieles. Destacando la buena relación de amistad existente; ya que los vascos – como pueblo– jamás arrebatamos territorio alguno, ni nos impusimos a ningún otro, produciéndose sin embargo una cooperación de manera ininterrumpida, con transferencia de conocimiento y tecnología entre ambas naciones. Continuando el contacto establecido desde hace años por JAUZARREA con las Primeras Naciones, retomamos el flujo de relaciones en más de treinta comunidades de Mi’kmaq, Malisset, Mohawk, Abenaki, Cree, Huron, Innu, Attikamekw, Algonkin y Ojibwa; con sus líderes y Consejos de Bandas. En un extenso territorio que abarca desde Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Ontario, New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentuky y región de los Grandes Lagos.

Realizando un estudio que comprende disciplinas como historia, folklore, arqueología, antropología, etnología, lingüística, biología o geología y la interpretación multidisciplinar de sus resultados; para determinar como ha tenido lugar esa relación y desde cuando se ha dado.

Conseguiremos un notable flujo de información, beneficioso, para poderlo aplicar con inmediatez en las comunidades objeto del estudio. De igual modo servirá para establecer una relación intercultural más sólida a ambas orillas del Atlántico.

Law about what non-Native people call "subsistence" is an assertion of jurisdiction: to regulate the management of land and its beings is a function of political power and civil law. The unity of Native peoples, however, is defined by themselves as community constituted in a religious and sacred bond with their land and its beings. The Dena'ina Athabaskan writer Peter Kalifornsky wrote a number of traditional stories illuminating their laws, including "The First Lawmaker."

Résumé : Fruit de la superposition de multiples lois, de leurs applications successives et parfois contradictoires, le droit territorial indien aux Etats-Unis est révélateur de la difficulté à articuler la spécificité autochtone et les différents échelons du fédéralisme états-unien. Si l’autonomie et la souveraineté des nations amérindiennes ont été initialement reconnues, elles sont très vite transformées par diverses négociations territoriales jusqu’à l’apparition des réserves, aveu d’une autonomie relative et négociée qui doit toujours être défendue. Cet article examine la souveraineté tribale sur les terres indiennes à travers l’étude de l’accord Cobell.

Abstract : Federal Indian law is a complex– and sometimes contradictory to itself - body of law that encompasses several hundred years of international law, treaties with Indian tribes, federal statutes and regulations, executive orders, and judicial opinions. It shows how difficult acknowledging the specificity of the Indian Nations within American federalism can be. If the sovereignty of the Indian Nations was initially recognized, it has slowly been challenged by various territorial negotiations, including the establishment of the reservation system, which shows that autonomy must always be defended. This article examines tribal sovereignty on Indian lands through the study of the Cobell agreement.

Billy Frank Jr. emulated civil rights activism, but his actions were rooted in a movement for self-determination. That root distinguishes Native American activism from the activism of "minorities" in American politics.  We can appreciate the opportunity to acknowledge Native self-determination on the occasion presented by the Presidential Medal of Honor. But, as we remember Billy Frank, let us remember what he actually fought for and won. And let us insist that the interests of the United States and of world peace are served by upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Native American sovereignty is not revolutionary. It is traditional. The struggle for Indian fishing rights was and is a struggle to preserve traditional self-government.

1 † Juris Doctor, West Virginia University College of Law; BA, University of Richmond. Thanks are due in large part to Associate Professor of Political Science Steven Taylor (Troy University) for encouraging the creation of this paper. As always, thanks to my father, Rick ...