David Getches

Scalia Memorandum to Brennan in Duro v. Reina

November 13, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

In the spirit of posting old documents (see our Nixon post yesterday), we are delighted to present a find from the late David Getches’ papers (many, many thanks to Jane at the Colorado Law Library for hunting for this and sending it along!):

DuroVReinaScaliaMemo

Here is an image of the memo, which David made a centerpiece of his deeply influential California Law Review article, “Conquering the Cultural Frontier: The New Subjectivism of the Supreme Court in Indian Law .” Jane believes David or his RA made the marks on the memo.

Fletcher on NAICJA/Getches’ “Indian Courts and the Future”

June 7, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

I posted my University of Colorado Law Review symposium paper, “Indian Courts and Fundamental Fairness: Indian Courts and the Future Revisited.” Here is the abstract:

This paper comes out of the University of Colorado Law Review’s symposium issue honoring the late Dean David H. Getches. It begins with Dean Getches’ framework for analyzing Indian courts. I revisit Indian Courts and the Future, the 1978 report drafted by Dean Getches, and the historic context of the report. I compare the 1978 findings to the current state of Indian courts in America. The paper focuses on the ability of Indian courts to successfully guarantee fundamental fairness in the form of due process and the equal protection of the law for individuals under tribal government authority is uniquely tied to the legal infrastructure available to the courts. Congress tried to provide the basic framework in the Indian Civil Rights Act, and many of the most successful tribal justice systems have borrowed from ICRA or developed their own indigenous structure to guarantee due process and equal protection. I argue that ICRA is declining in importance as Indian tribes domesticate federal constitutional guarantees by adopting their own structures to guarantee fundamental fairness.

The Colorado Law Library recently archived Indian Courts and the Future and its two appendices (here and here). Check them out. The Indian law portion of the symposium is here.

FBA’s Federal Lawyer Publishes Annual Indian Law Issue

April 12, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Federal Lawyer Indian Law Issue 2012 — Photos by the incomparable Lawrence Baca.

The Potential Impact of the Growing Mobile Society on Tribal Identity (Venus McGhee Prince)

When most Americans think of tribes in this country, they don’t think of modern Indians who may live next door and may look and act much like them, at least from a first glance. Yet the growing technological and physical mobility of modern society may be producing these fundamental changes in tribal identity. This article explores the challenges that face tribes as their identities are reshaped in the modern world.

In Memoriam: David Getches: A Tribute to a Leader and a Scholar (Matthew L.M. Fletcher and Kristen A. Carpenter)

Indian country lost a great champion when David H. Getches walked on to the next world on July 5, 2011.

Garden of Truth (Sarah Deer)

Sex trafficking is often thought of as a crime that originates overseas. This article explores the ugly reality of commercial sexual exploitation in the lives of American Indian women and girls, right here in the United States.

California v. Cabazon Band: A Quarter-Century of Complex, Litigious Self-Determination (Matthew L.M. Fletcher)

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision inCalifornia v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indiansmay be the most momentous decision in federal Indian law in the last 50 years.

Also, FBA Indian Law Section President Elizabeth Ann Kronk’s “At Sidebar” Message, “United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation: Its Importance and Potential Future Ramifications” is here. Apparently, she doesn’t get a photo.

David Getches Symposium at CU Law School

March 7, 2012March 7, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

David Getches Symposium

April 26th & April 27th, 2012 5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. April 26th 8:00 a.m. – 5 p.m. April 27th

Wolf Law Building, Wittemyer Courtroom

Full agenda

On Thursday and Friday, April 26-27th, the Law School will host a Symposium in Honor of David H. Getches, beloved Dean, colleague, professor, and public servant, who passed away last summer. The Symposium will celebrate David’s life, especially his trailblazing scholarship, and will begin Thursday evening, with a lecture celebrating Dean Getches’s life by Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson. On Friday, the very best in the fields of Natural Resources, Water, and American Indian Law will gather to reflect on and celebrate Dean Getches’s scholarly legacy. Speakers include Professor John Leshy, Senator Tim Wirth, and John Echohawk, Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund.
Please RSVP here by April 19, 2012.

David Getches Memorial Today

August 11, 2011August 12, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Click for program brochure

Program brochure here.

Colorado Public Radio on David Getches (Interview with Charles Wilkinson and John Echohawk

July 20, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Remembering CU-Boulder’s David Getches

by Elise Thatcher

Listen here.

It sounds kind of obvious. If a state or the federal government signs a treaty, it should honor the agreement. But as recently as the 1970s that wasn’t true of treaties signed with Indian tribes. David Getches fought to change that. During his legal career, he also worked on other big issues in the West, like water law and public lands. Most recently, Getches was the dean of the law school at CU-Boulder. He died earlier this month at age 68 of pancreatic cancer. Two of his colleagues join Ryan Warner. John Echohawk heads the Native American Rights Fund and Professor Charles Wilkinson teaches law at CU.

Full Law Week Colorado Article on David Getches

July 15, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

David Getches Remembered – Law Week 7.14.11

Law Week Colorado Item on David Getches

July 13, 2011July 13, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher

David Getches, Remembered

Posted on 12 July 2011.

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO

The death last week of former University of Colorado Law School Dean David Getches prompted an outpouring of grief from all quarters, including the Indian law community, where he was beloved not only as an educator, but as founder of a key American Indian-rights nonprofit and litigator in landmark cases.

“He really helped to revolutionize Indian law,” said former Colorado U.S. Attorney Troy Eid, now co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s American Indian law practice group. “He was very much ahead of his time.”

When news of Getches’ illness reached the Federal Bar Association’s Indian Law Section a few weeks ago, it immediately set about changing its bylaws to give him its lifetime achievement award eight months ahead of schedule.

Such was the reverence in which Getches was held in the field. The section planned to surprise him with the award at the end of July — it was waiting four to six weeks for an American Indian sculptor to craft the acrylic award.

“Unfortunately, Dean Getches was taken from us too quickly to be able to physically give him the award,” said Jennifer Weddle, the section’s deputy chair and co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s American Indian law group.
Getches died July 5 at age 68, just a month after his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and just five days after he passed the deanship to his successor, Phil Weiser. He was looking forward to a return to teaching full-time.

Getches is survived by wife Anne (with whom he’d just celebrated 47 years of marriage) and children Matthew, Catherine and Elizabeth.

Getches was known as a leading scholar and public citizen in natural resources and water law, and he was heralded for his leadership during eight years as dean, when he presided over construction of the Wolf Law Building, and a total of three decades as a professor. But his role in the development of modern American Indian law is certainly one of his greatest legacies.

It’s telling that the Indian law section’s award wasn’t the only lifetime achievement award that was posthumously given to Getches last week. The National Congress of American Indians, the largest and oldest American Indian organization, announced the day after his death it was honoring Getches with its highest award. It said in his memory: “Your piercing intelligence, diligent work and compassion for the Native cause fostered a legal revolution and brought hope and justice to Indian communities nationwide. We thank you and lift you up in our hearts.”

Editor’s Note: Read the full story in the July 11 print edition of Law Week Colorado

July 5, 2011

CU-BOULDER MOURNS LOSS OF DAVID GETCHES, FORMER CU LAW DEAN

Longtime University of Colorado Law School Dean David Getches, who had stepped down on June 30 in order to return to the school’s faculty, died today. He was 68.

Getches joined the faculty of Colorado Law in 1979 as a nationally renowned expert in natural resources and Indian law issues. He wrote several books on water law, natural resources law and Indian rights issues and his work has appeared in numerous publications.

“On behalf of the entire University of Colorado community, I wish to express my deepest and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of David Getches,” said Chancellor Phil DiStefano. “David provided exceptional leadership as dean of the Law School for close to a decade and had an outstanding career as a scholar and teacher. He will be greatly missed as a friend, colleague and member of the CU community, as well as by members of the legal profession throughout the United States.”

Getches served as dean of Colorado Law from 2003 to 2011. Under his leadership the university financed and constructed the $46 million Wolf Law Building and expanded the academic offerings at the law school, which include an endowed Experiential Learning Program, three Master of Laws degrees, three legal clinics, three certificates and eight dual-degrees.

“David Getches came along at exactly the right time for the American West, which has undergone such sweeping changes over the past half century,” said Charles Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law and longtime friend. “As a wise advocate and leading public intellectual, David brought vision, common sense and passion to pressing issues of water, land and Indian rights. Now Indian tribes, universities, government offices, conservationists and the rivers themselves will grieve aloud. We will not see his kind again.”

Phil Weiser, who took over as dean of Colorado Law on July 1, said, “David leaves a remarkable legacy of integrity and commitment to excellence. All of us in the Colorado Law community will miss him greatly and I will miss him dearly as a mentor and a friend. His memory and spirit will remain a blessing to us all.”

From 1983 to 1987, Getches was executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources under Gov. Richard D. Lamm. Getches earned his undergraduate degree from Occidental College in California and his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law. He began his legal career in 1967 with the law firm of Luce, Forward, Hamilton and Scripps in San Diego. In 1968, he was co-directing attorney for California Indian Legal Services and in 1970, he moved to Colorado to become the founding executive director for the Boulder-based Native American Rights Fund, a national, nonprofit Indian-interest law firm.

A memorial service for Getches is being planned and will be announced at a later date.

Contributions may be sent to the David H. Getches Scholarship Fund. Additional information is available at http://www.cufund.org/GetchesScholarship.

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