Scholarship

MSU Law Review Symposium Published — Labor and Employment Laws in Indian Country

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the listing of articles[once the pdfs are available, we’ll update the posting]:

De Facto Judicial Preemption of Tribal Labor and Employment Law
Ezekiel J.N. Fletcher

The Tuscarorganization of the Tribal Workforce
Vicki J. Limas

Tribal Self-Determination and Judical Restraint: The Problem of Labor and Employment Relations within the Reservation
Kaighn Smith Jr.

The Institutional Economics of Tribal Labor Relations
Wenona T. Singel

How the Ninth Circuit Overruled a Century of Supreme Court Indian Jurisprudence–And Has So Far Gotten Away with It
Bryan H. Wildenthal

November 2008 Indian Law Professor Newsletter

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

newsletter-2008-nov

Kristen Carpenter on Interpretative Sovereignty

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Kristen Carpenter has posted her paper, “Interpretative Sovereignty: A Research Agenda,” on SSRN. It is forthcoming from the American Indian Law Review. Here is the abstract:

In federal Indian law, the treaty operates as our foundational legal text. Reflecting centuries-old historical political arrangements between Indian nations and the United States, treaties remain vital legal instruments that decide dozens of legal cases each year. Yet, these treaties — originally drafted in English by the federal government, following negotiations with tribal representatives who usually spoke their own languages — present a number of ambiguities for contemporary courts. The dominant model of treaty interpretation is one in which judges interpret treaties in a manner they they believe to reflect Indians’ understanding of treaty terms and, more generally, to promote the interests of Indian nations. While this liberal approach to treaty interpretation has secured a number of important Indian rights in the courts, it does not necessarily reflect the ways in which Indians actually perceived treaty terms in their own languages and cultures.

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New Book: Reparations for Indigenous Peoples (Oxford)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here’s the link to the book, a collection of essays edited by Federico Lenzerini, and published by Oxford. And here are a few interesting chapters:

Gerald Torres, “Indigenous Peoples, Afro-Indigenous Peoples and Reparations”

David C. Williams, “In Praise of Guilt: How the Yearning for Moral Purity Blocks Reparations for Native Americans”

Sarah Krakoff and Kristen Carpenter, “Repairing Reparations in the American Indian Nation Context”

Reparations for Neglect of Indigenous Land Rights at the Intersection of Domestic and International Law — The Maya Cases”

Academic Review: Susan Gray, David Wilkins & Sheryl Lightfoot, and Siegfried Weissner

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are a few recent scholarly articles of interest to the blog:

Susan Gray, Miengun’s Children: Tales from a Mixed-Race Family, 29:2&3 Frontiers 136 (2008) — article about the children of Northport, Michigan missionary George N. Smith

David Wilkins & Sheryl Lightfoot, Oaths of Office in Tribal Constitutions, 32 Am. Indian Q. 389 (Fall 2008)

Siegfried Weissner, Indigenous Sovereignty: A Reassessment in Light of the UN Declaration, 41 Vand. J. Int’l L. 1141 (2008)

Business Law Today Feature on Indian Businesses and Tribal Courts

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The ABA’s Business Law Today features several short articles on federal Indian law and business here. Links to the articles are below the fold.

Our mini-theme: Native America

Culture, Business and the Law

The law is a system that provides social cohesion while at the same time revealing much about our culture in a nation of many people and customs. In this issue, we celebrate the Native peoples of our nation, which include Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.

Few of us have had the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the people who have lived for centuries in the places we now call home. The articles in this issue are written by lawyers who are part of Native communities and provide unique insight into the interplay between America’s federal, state, and tribal laws.

One author grew up on a reservation, not having seen the ocean on the East or West Coast prior to earning admittance to one of the best, and most elite, undergraduate universities in the country. This author currently spends half the year near the Pacific Ocean and half the year on the reservation. Another author grew to adulthood before learning of the family’s Native culture and beginning a life-altering journey of discovery, which included going through traditional rituals to be formally admitted to the tribe.

While the articles focus on legal, procedural, and business issues implicated when dealing with Native peoples or their lands, they also provide some perspective on the incredible wealth of cultures in this country that is reflected in our legal system.

–Nicole Harris

San Francisco

Deal or no deal?
Understanding Indian Country transactions
By Gabriel S. Galanda and Anthony S. Broadman
Encouraging business with Indian tribes
A brief discussion of the tribal exhaustion doctrine
By Thomas Weathers
Tribal courts and alternative dispute resolution
Mediated settlements and arbitration awards in tribal court
By Pat Sekaquaptewa
Avoiding trouble in paradise
Understanding Hawai`i’s law and indigenous culture
D. Kapua`ala Sproat

Christian McMillan Wins Reid Prize for “Making Indian Law”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Congrats to Christian McMillen for this award. Incidentally, Professor McMillen is a named amicus in the historians brief in Carcieri v. Kempthorne.

John Phillip Reid Book Award (H/t to Legal History Blog and Patrick O’Donnell)

Named for John Phillip Reid, the prolific legal historian and founding member of the Society, and made possible by the generous contributions of his friends and colleagues, the John Phillip Reid Book Award is an annual award for the best book published in English in the previous year in any of the fields broadly defined as Anglo-American legal history.

Christian W. McMillen’s Making Indian Law: The Hualapai Land Case and the Birth of Ethnohistory is a deeply researched and elegantly written study of the Hualapai case and its background.

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Idaho Law Review — Call for Papers

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

This call for papers seeks submissions for the AALS Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Section’s 2009 publication of selected papers.  The Section will meet during the American Association of Law School’s Annual Conference on January 8th, 2009.  The Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Section Meeting will focus on “New Directions in International Law and Indigenous Peoples.”  The University of Idaho Law Review will be publishing the papers on this topic accepted for publication.

The papers should address the themes of international law developments impacting the lives of Indigenous Peoples.  With the passage on Sept. 13, 2007 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the international community has taken a major step in the direction of being responsive to the efforts of Indigenous peoples to bring awareness to global and local issues.  Subject areas for papers may include: international human rights and Indigenous peoples; applying specific international documents to Indigenous issues; the increasing intersectionality of international and Indigenous law; the changing discourse over Indigenous peoples’ status in the international arena; influences of international law within Indigenous communities and jurisprudence; and related topics along these lines.

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Arizona State Bar Indian Law Section Newsletter — Fall 2008

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

“The Arrow” — arizona-indian-law-fall-08

Highlights:

A Substantial Burden: Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Serv., 535 F.3d 1058 (9th Cir. 2008)

Indian Law Section 2008-2009 Writing Competition Call for Entries

Barona v. Yee: State Taxation of Tribal Construction Projects

Spring Speakers Series Finalized

Kate Fort

The final dates and speakers for our Spring Speakers Series has been finalized.  The Indigenous Law and Policy Center at MSU College of Law will be hosting four events this spring, and all of the details can be found at our Spring Speakers Series, 2009 page.