One of the five finalists for the Montana Law School dean position practices Indian law. Greg Murphy is admitted to three tribal bars in Montana. He lists Indian law as one of his main practice areas.
Education
Lloyd Miller: A New Deal for Native America
From Lloyd Miller, partner in the law firm of Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry, LLP:
In only two months President Obama has already begun to make his mark in forging a new era in Native American affairs. After eight years marked mostly by neglect, this is welcome news, for Tribal leaders have been yearning for the profound change that can only come from a committed White House — change that calls upon the Nation not only to remember its forgotten First Americans, but to craft a new deal that embraces tribal governments as true partners in the Nation’s family of governments. Under President Obama, all indications are that this new deal will include promoting genuine tribal self-determination, honoring the unique place Indian Tribes occupy under the Constitution, and honoring fully the trust responsibility born of treaties and the Nation’s tragic early history with Indian Tribes.
Most Americans are only dimly aware of today’s tribal governments, and for many that knowledge is limited to casinos. Few know that less than one-half of America’s 562 Tribes actually operate gaming facilities of any kind (nearly half of them in California). Few know that, of those that do, the well-known top 10% account for over 50% of total tribal gambling revenues, while roughly half the Tribes account for less than 10%. The fact is, across Native America gambling is commonly little more than a breakeven proposition, providing local employment and moderately enhanced health, educational and public services.
Still, popular interest in Indian gambling has eclipsed the real picture of Native America, which remains largely out of the public eye: communities living in third world conditions without basic running water or sanitation and suffering disproportionately high rates of communicable diseases; reservations and villages with little physical infrastructure; child suicide rates 2.5 times the national average (and for teens in some regions, 17 times the national average); overwhelmed law enforcement and justice systems funded at 40% the national average, with half of all offenders on the street due to dangerously overcrowded facilities; and crumbling schools with over $800 million in deferred maintenance, producing children who score lower in reading, math and history than every other ethnic group in America.
Although in many places conditions are improving, for too many in too many places America has gravely neglected its First Americans.
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Two Recent Indian Law Related Posts at the Legal History Blog
Here are two recent Legal History Blog posts which may be of interests to readers of this blog. Follow the links for more information about both:
Hernandez-Saenz Reviews “Empire of Laws and Indian Justice in Colonial Mexico”
H-Law has published “Law and Indigenous Peoples in Seventeenth-Century Mexico,” a review by Luz Maria Hernandez-Saenz, Department of History, University of Western Ontario, of Brian Philip Owensby’s Empire of Law and Indian Justice in Colonial Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2008).
Soliz and Joseph on Native American Literature, Ceremony and Law
Native American Literature, Ceremony, and Law is a new essay by Cristine Soliz, Colorado State University-Pueblo, and Harold Joseph. It will appear in MLA OPTIONS FOR TEACHING LITERATURE AND LAW, Austin Sarat, Cathrine Frank, Matthew Anderson, eds., 2009. Here’s the abstract (only the abstract, not a fuller essay, is available to download on SSRN).
UVIC Law 2009 Summer Session and Indigenous Law Program
The Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, will once again be offering a Summer Session of fully accredited LL.B. degree courses in Summer 2009 (May 6 to August 17). In addition to course offerings in subjects such as Evidence, Business Associations, and Civil Procedure, we are particularly delighted to announce that the 2009 Summer Session will feature a special concentration in Indigenous Law – a program that consists of three innovative courses taught on an intensive basis over 6 weeks (June 29 to August 17) and focusing on the relationship between Canadian law and the legal systems of three Indigenous Nations.
Professors for the Indigenous Law courses include:
Dr. John Borrows, F.R.S.C., Law Foundation Professor in Aboriginal Justice, UVic Law (Ojibway)
Dr. Gordon Christie, Professor, UBC Law (Inuit)
Professor Val Napoleon, Professor of Law and Native Studies, University of Alberta (Cree & Dunne’zaa)
The Indigenous Law Courses to be offered (June 29 to August 17) are:
Law 340 Indigenous Lands, Rights and Governments (1.5 units)
Law 343 A03 The Management of Interpersonal Relations in the Legal Orders of Indigenous Peoples (1.5 units)
Indigenous Elders and practitioners will also be involved in the course delivery, and there will be a special conference in Indigenous Legal Traditions during the Program on July 16-17.
These courses will provide an unparalleled insight into the relationship between Canadian law and Indigenous legal traditions that will break new ground in the field. Experience developed in the Program will be used to develop further courses and programs on Indigenous peoples’ laws within Canadian law schools.
Law students from other Canadian law schools, lawyers, and graduate students from other disciplines studying Indigenous issues are encouraged to apply and participate in this exciting Indigenous Program.
For further information please contact:
UVic Law’s Admissions Office:
Faculty of Law
University of Victoria
PO Box 2400 STN CSC,
Victoria, BC V8W 3H7
Phone: (250) 721-8151
Fax: (250) 721-6390
Email: lawadmss@uvic.ca<mailto:lawadmss@uvic.ca>
Meg Noori in the Freep
Patricia Montemurri at The Freep profiles Meg Noori, a University of Michigan professor who teaches Anishinaabemowin. Click through for some nice photos and an audio clip of her class.
“Izhaadaa Giizhigowaande!
Catch Margaret (Meg) Noori at any University of Michigan event and that’s how she exhorts fellow Wolverines to “Let’s Go, Blue.”Meg, 43, is a professor of Ojibwe Language and Literature. In the classroom and at home, she seeks to celebrate and preserve a language of the American Indians who populated the Great Lakes region for several hundred years before European settlers arrived.
Using the language of her ancestors every day, says Meg, “is one of the most meaningful things I can do.”
US v. Nystrom — Bribery of Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Official
In this case, the District of South Dakota accepted a magistrate report and recommendation not to dismiss federal charges of bribing a tribal school official.
MSU Law Student Accepted to NARF Summer Clerkship Program
Jaimie Park, a MSU Law student 2L and NALSA member, was accepted to NARF’s summer clerkship program for the summer of 2009. She’ll be working in the Anchorage office.
Congratulations to Jaimie!
More on Where Margaret Wente
Margaret Wente’s 10-24-08 column in the Globe and Mail espouses that aboriginal American contributions to contemporary society are generally overstated and that there was a vast developmental chasm separating Indian and European cultures at the time of first contact. She seems enamoured with Frances Widdowson and Albert Howard’s forthcoming text that apparently “knocks the stuffing out of the prevailing mythology that surrounds the history of first peoples.”
That line has stuck with me for the last several days. As an Ojibwe raised in the U.S., I’ve always felt that the Anishinaabek and other first peoples were ignored or at least de-emphasized by the vast majority of North American history texts, especially those most influential in K-12 education. I suppose, for me, the concept of a North American historical mythology congers up a totally different set of ideas that it does for Margaret. I do like the idea of knocking the stuffing out of an historical mythology. I think that is what William Cronon attempted to do with the publication of “Changes in the Land” and Ojibwe historian George Cornell has worked at throughout his career, as with his contribution to “People of the Three Fires”; like Lakota-Ojibwe scholar Patrick Labeau attempts with “Rethinking Michigan Indian History”; and Richard White with “The Middle Ground”.
I haven’t yet read Widdowson and Howard’s book that Wente is so impressed with, but I have a feeling my people are in their piñata. I hope when the piñata busts, there is an outpouring of Aboriginal and non-aboriginal response that sounds nothing like the prose of Margaret Wente. However, I am way ahead of myself; I’ll reserve judgement of the new book until it is published and I can give it a careful read.
I have read Hayden King’s response article to the Wente column. King provides an important counter to the misinformation strewn throughout the original column.
North Dakota Supreme Court Upholds Denial of Unemployment Benefits
In this case, a teacher who often vented about her personal law suits against Indian tribes was fired and denied benefits. She did other things, too.
“American Indian Education” Reading and Signing — Saturday 1-3 PM
On October 25, I will be reading from and discussing my book, “American Indian Education: Counternarratives in Racism, Struggle, and the Law,” at Everybody Reads bookstore, located at 2019 Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Michigan.
The website for the reading is here. And the link to the my book page is here.
Turtle Talk 
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