Kevin K. Washburn has published “Landback as Federal Policy” in the UCLA Law Review.

Here is the abstract:

Demands for the return of land to tribal nations have become much louder and more compelling in recent years. While “landback” has been part of federal policy for nearly a century, lawmakers and presidents from both parties have embraced landback initiatives more firmly in the last half century. But the quantity of lands returned is almost insignificant in comparison to the vast lands taken. Landback efforts are based in compelling moral claims. This Article summarizes the moral claims for landback by briefly recounting the widespread loss of land by Indian tribes through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and highlighting the unique role of the federal government in this tragedy. It also showcases some of the tribal and federal counterefforts to the loss of land, including existing federal landback efforts that have returned millions of acres to tribes. The federal government has many tools available, and it should deploy them more effectively. Advocates must also be more strategic. Landback can be viewed in context with related federal initiatives, including renaming, comanagement, and costewardship, as well reservation expansion, retrocession, and other federal efforts to restore and expand tribal selfgovernance. These numerous related federal and tribal initiatives can support tribal landback and restorative justice efforts.