Here are the top 20 papers, by download (a lousy indicator, but I’m procrastinating right now so work with me). I included papers on American Indian law, though I included papers on international law so long as they included some discussion of American Indian tribes, and excluded papers published prior to 2012, and my own papers (tacky).
From here:
Jurisdiction, Crime, and Development: The Impact of Public Law 280 in Indian Country
Valentina P. Dimitrova-Grajzl , Peter Grajzl and A. Joseph Guse
Virginia Military Institute , Washington and Lee University – Department of Economics and Washington and Lee University – Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics
Date Posted: June 26, 2012
Last Revised: September 18, 2012
Working Paper Series
168 downloads
Clarence Thomas’s Originalist Understanding of the Interstate, Negative, and Indian Commerce Clauses
University of Detroit Mercy Law Review, Vol. 88, No. 769, 2011
Ralph A. Rossum
Claremont McKenna College
Date Posted: June 17, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
144 downloads
‘The Tale of the Tribe and the Company Town’: What We Can Learn About the Workings of Whiteness in the Pacific Northwest
Oregon Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 5 (2012), Gonzaga University School of Law Research Paper No. 2012-6
John Shuford
Gonzaga University – Department of Philosophy
Date Posted: July 25, 2012
Last Revised: August 01, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
135 downloads
What’s at Stake for Tribes? – The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel Opinion on Internet Gaming, Testimony of Dean Kevin K. Washburn, Oversight Hearing Before the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, 112th Congress, Second Session
UNM School of Law Research Paper No. 2012-04
Kevin K. Washburn
University of New Mexico – School of Law
Date Posted: February 07, 2012
Last Revised: April 20, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
113 downloads
Unjustifiable Expectations: Laying to Rest the Ghosts of Allotment-Era Settlers
36 Seattle U. Law Rev. 129 (2012).
Ann E. Tweedy
Hamline University School of Law
Date Posted: February 17, 2012
Last Revised: October 06, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
106 downloads
Globalization and its Special and Significant Impacts on Indigenous Communities
Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 12-19
Robert Hershey
University of Arizona – James E. Rogers College of Law
Date Posted: May 29, 2012
Working Paper Series
104 downloads
Priceless Property
Georgia State University Law Review, Forthcoming, Wayne State University Law School Research Paper No. 2012-03
Kirsten Matoy Carlson
Wayne State University Law School
Date Posted: March 28, 2012
Last Revised: May 09, 2012
Working Paper Series
104 downloads
Political Science and the Study of Indigenous Politics
Kevin Bruyneel
Babson College
Date Posted: May 18, 2012
Last Revised: October 29, 2012
Working Paper Series
101 downloads
The Meaning of Due Process in the Navajo Nation
The Indian Civil Rights Act at Forty (UCLA American Indian Studies Center Publications) 2012
Paul Spruhan
Navajo Nation Department of Justice
Date Posted: March 29, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
91 downloads
Limiting Principles and Empowering Practices in American Indian Religious Freedoms
Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 45, No. 2, Forthcoming 2012
Kristen A. Carpenter
University of Colorado Law School
Date Posted: March 04, 2012
Last Revised: May 08, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
85 downloads
Alleviating the Tension between Species Preservation and Religious Freedom
Kathryn E. Kovacs
Rutgers School of Law – Camden
Date Posted: July 03, 2012
Last Revised: October 20, 2012
Working Paper Series
83 downloads
Neo-Colonial Adaptation or Neo-Sovereignty: Oklahoma Cherokee/African Ancestry Freedmen Conflict
Darryl Omar Freeman
Washington State University
Date Posted: April 12, 2012
Working Paper Series
83 downloads
Individual Religious Freedoms in American Indian Tribal Constitutional Law
The Indian Civil Rights Act at Forty (American Indian Studies Center Publications), 2012
Kristen A. Carpenter
University of Colorado Law School
Date Posted: March 04, 2012
Last Revised: March 06, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
73 downloads
De Recto, De Jure, or De Facto: Another Look at the History of U.S./Tribal Relations
Marren Sanders
Phoenix School of Law
Date Posted: August 24, 2012
Last Revised: September 16, 2012
Working Paper Series
70 downloads
Waves of Education: Tribal-State Court Cooperation and the Indian Child Welfare Act
47 Tulsa L. Rev. 529, MSU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-06
Kathryn Fort
Michigan State University – College of Law
Date Posted: April 06, 2012
Last Revised: September 26, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
68 downloads
Inextricably Political: Race, Membership and Tribal Sovereignty
87 Washington Law Review (2012), U of Colorado Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 12-19
Sarah Krakoff
University of Colorado Law School
Date Posted: November 01, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
65 downloads
The Crazy Horse Malt Liquor Case: From Tradition to Modernity and Halfway Back
South Dakota Law Review, Vol. 57, p. 42, 2012
Frank Pommersheim
University of South Dakota Law School
Date Posted: August 18, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
63 downloads
Foreign Investment and Indigenous Peoples: Options for Promoting Equilibrium between Economic Development and Indigenous Rights
Michigan Journal of International Law, Vol. 33, No. 4, 2012, Lewis & Clark Law School Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2012-25
George K. Foster
Lewis & Clark Law School
Date Posted: September 17, 2012
Last Revised: September 20, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
60 downloads
‘Indians, in a Jurisdictional Sense’: The Continuing Viability of Consent as a Theory of Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Over Non-Indians
Paul Spruhan
Navajo Nation Department of Justice
Date Posted: April 12, 2012
Working Paper Series
57 downloads
Bringing Balance to Mid-North America: Re-Structuring the Sovereign Relationships between Tribal Nations and the United States
University of Baltimore Law Review, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2012
Angelique Townsend EagleWoman
University of Idaho – College of Law
Date Posted: July 10, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
52 downloads
Honorable Mention:
We are Who We Thought We Were: Congress’ Authority to Recognize a Native Hawaiian Polity United by Common Descent
Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2012
Derek Hoohauoli Kauanoe and Breann Swann Nuuhiwa
University of Hawaii at Manoa – William S. Richardson School of Law and affiliation not provided to SSRN
Date Posted: August 09, 2012
Accepted Paper Series
48 downloads
Addendum:
Colette Routel & Jeffrey K. Holth’s Tribal Consultation in the 21st Century, with 144 downloads, should appear on the list, but isn’t on the SSRN Indigenous law list for some reason. Thanks to A.K.
Turtle Talk 
Just got a phone call from Jeff Atkins, Clerk of US Supreme Court, who confirmed that the parties agreed with stipulations to a settlement and the case will not go to conference. The issue of the additional $123 MIl in Counsel fees and expenses is still pending but shouldn’t delay a distribution. The settlement does that state that any additional fees and expenses would come from the class member award so they probably will pay the uncontested amount and then if any of the remaining is not awarded to the class counsel, a second remainder amount could be distributed later. Thought you might like to know this.