Equality vs. Exceptionalism: The Role of Race in Federal Indian Law

Saturday, April 5, 5:15-6:45 PM

Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT

Race has played a profound and complicated role in the United States’ legal and political treatment of Indians. On the one hand, the federal government has used American racial ideology and taxonomy to strip tribes of autonomy, resources, and humanity. On the other hand, the courts and Congress have also problematically conflated race and political status as a way of understanding and regulating tribes as political entities. This panel will explore how this unique history interacts with recent equal protection jurisprudence and has impacted the political position of tribes and Native people. How will the increasing illegitimacy of governmental racial classifications affect laws designed to preserve and advance tribal self-government and cultural survival? How can the tension between formal equality and the distinct status of Indian tribes be reconciled to secure Native rights and justice?

Panelists:

Kristen Carpenter, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director, American Indian Law Program, University of Colorado Law School

Matthew Fletcher, Professor of Law and Director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center, Michigan State University College of Law

Wenona Singel, Associate Professor of Law & Associate Director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center, Michigan State University College of Law

Angela R. Riley, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law; Director, UCLA American Indian Studies Center; and Co-Director, Native Nations Law and Policy Center

Gerald Torres, Bryant Smith Chair in Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law

Registration: http://www.law.yale.edu/news/crt2014_register.htm

This panel is part of Yale Law School’s 2014 Critical Race Theory Conference. To learn more about the conference, please visit: http://www.law.yale.edu/news/crt2014.htm