Dewi I. Ball has posted “Williams v. Lee (1959) – 50 years later: A Re-assessment of One of the Most Important cases in the Modern-era of Federal Indian Law” on BEPress (download here). Here is the abstract:
It is 50 years since the landmark decision of Williams v. Lee was handed down by Justice Hugo Lafayette Black and the United States Supreme Court. At the time, the case was a watershed event that signified the legal resurgence of Native America in Federal Indian law and in particular, the renaissance of the Indian sovereignty doctrine, inherent tribal sovereignty and the principles of Worcester v. Georgia. There can be no doubt that the eloquently constructed opinion by Hugo Black brought positive news for all Native Americans, especially in light of the process of Termination that was being pursued by Congress and the United States President. However, against this nascent sense of renewal and hope, the Williams case also began what became an insidious trend in the decision-making process of the U.S. Supreme Court; the weakening of the Indian sovereignty doctrine and some of the key attributes of tribal power; namely civil, criminal and taxation authority. Much of the academic literature in the field of Federal Indian law and Native American studies points to the importance of the Williams case as one which strengthened Native American sovereignty but other academics, from the 1990s, have questioned whether the case was an overall success for the authority of Native Americans on their reservations in the complexity of what is Federal Indian law. Although this article will analyze the re-affirmation of the Indian sovereignty doctrine and inherent tribal sovereignty in the Williams opinion, through the use of archival materials from the private papers of U.S. Supreme Court Justices, it will also be the first article in Native American studies to examine behind the scenes discussions and processes used in the Williams case and argue that the weakening of the Indian sovereignty doctrine began in 1959.
Scholarship on this case is burgeoning. Hon. Raymond Austin’s book “Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law” touches upon the case from the point of view of the Navajo Nation government, which treated it as a kind of test case.
This work parses through the papers of Justice Brennan for an inside look at how the Court decided the case. A sobering work well worth reading.
Turtle Talk 