From the Green Bay Press Gazette, via Pechanga:
A legislative proposal to revamp the Oneida judicial system and define its authority is part of a larger trend among Native American tribes across the country to establish their own law enforcement and judicial systems.
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The authority and jurisdiction of modern tribal courts is complex.
Wisconsin is one of six states where a 1953 federal measure called Public Law 280 gave criminal jurisdiction over tribal areas to the states from the federal government, and also allowed state courts jurisdiction over civil matters on reservations.
The law was a product of the termination era — a period in the 1950s and ’60s when the federal government severed relationships with many tribes, said Matthew Fletcher, a professor and director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University.
However, Congress didn’t appropriate any money to these states to increase the law enforcement necessary to enforce the jurisdiction, leading local officials to often ignore problems on reservations, Fletcher said.
When federal Native American policy shifted toward self-determination, giving tribes more control over their governance, tribes began developing their own law enforcement systems and courts. As they did, questions arose about jurisdiction.
“The concurrent jurisdiction causes some confusion,” Monette said. “In the criminal area, both (the state and the tribe) have jurisdiction and can exercise it. They can both have jurisdiction in a civil cause of action, but they cannot both exercise it.”
In 2003, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a written decision in a lengthy court case involving both tribal and state courts that served as a guideline for resolving these jurisdictional disputes. As a result, several state court districts and tribal courts, mostly in western Wisconsin, have agreed to protocols that they follow in cases.
Milwaukee attorney Paul Stenzel, who works with numerous tribes, said state and tribal judges now have an excellent record of interaction and communication that has increased cooperation between jurisdictions. A standing body of state and tribal judges examine issues concerning jurisdiction on a regular basis.
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