Navajo Nation Supreme Court

Ezra Rosser Book Review of Ray Austin’s Book on Navajo Common Law

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Ezra Rosser has posted Displacing the Judiciary: Customary Law and the Threat of a Defensive Tribal Council, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1591153, forthcoming 35 Am. Indian L. Rev. __ (2010) to SSRN.  The abstract is below:

Displacing the Judiciary: Customary Law and the Threat of a Defensive Tribal Council is a brief article framed as a book review of RAYMOND D. AUSTIN, NAVAJO COURTS AND NAVAJO COMMON LAW: A TRADITION OF TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNANCE (2009). Raymond Austin is a former Justice of the Navajo Supreme Court and his book is an important contribution to Indian law and tribal law scholarship that should be of interest to general readers. Austin shows the origins of Navajo customary law norms and how the Navajo court system has incorporated those norms into Navajo common law. Although the majority of the article is dedicated to reviewing NAVAJO COURTS AND NAVAJO COMMON LAW, I also discuss the an ongoing tribal power struggle and the related effort of the Navajo Tribal Council to block the Navajo courts from using customary law.

Book Announcement: Raymond Austin’s “Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Former Navajo Nation Supreme Court Justice Raymond D. Austin just published his incredible work, “Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law: A Tradition of Tribal Self-Governance” with the University of Minnesota Press.

Here is the blurb from the Press’s website:

The only book on the world’s largest tribal court system and Navajo common law

The Navajo Nation court system is the largest and most established tribal legal system in the world. Since the landmark 1959 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Williams v. Lee that affirmed tribal court authority over reservation-based claims, the Navajo Nation has been at the vanguard of a far-reaching, transformative jurisprudential movement among Indian tribes in North America and indigenous peoples around the world to retrieve and use traditional values to address contemporary legal issues.

A justice on the Navajo Nation Supreme Court for sixteen years, Justice Raymond D. Austin has been deeply involved in the movement to develop tribal courts and tribal law as effective means of modern self-government. He has written foundational opinions that have established Navajo common law and, throughout his legal career, has recognized the benefit of tribal customs and traditions as tools of restorative justice.

In Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law, Justice Austin considers the history and implications of how the Navajo Nation courts apply foundational Navajo doctrines to modern legal issues. He explains key Navajo foundational concepts like Hózhó (harmony), K’é (peacefulness and solidarity), and K’éí (kinship) both within the Navajo cultural context and, using the case method of legal analysis, as they are adapted and applied by Navajo judges in virtually every important area of legal life in the tribe.

In addition to detailed case studies, Justice Austin provides a broad view of tribal law, documenting the development of tribal courts as important institutions of indigenous self-governance and outlining how other indigenous peoples, both in North America and elsewhere around the world, can draw on traditional precepts to achieve self-determination and self-government, solve community problems, and control their own futures.

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Navajo Council to Repeal Dine Fundamental Law?!?!

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Navajo-Hopi Observer:

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Last Thursday, the 21st Navajo Nation Council tabled a measure that would have repealed the Diné Fundamental Laws – a codified set of laws based on centuries-old Navajo traditional values and customs. The measure was tabled until the fall session with a vote of 48-21.

Council Delegate Raymond Joe (Tachee/Blue Gap/Whippoorwill) introduced the measure during the final day of the council’s summer session. He and others cited that these laws, which are primarily meant to govern the upbringing of Navajo youth and promote balance and harmony among Navajo people, are being abused and misinterpreted by Navajo lawmakers in order to promote their own political agendas.

The laws, codified in 2002, provide no guidance on how they should be used or applied.

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NYTs: Navajo Nation to Vote on Structure of Government

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs (Navajo Supreme Court opinion):

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Navajo voters have never had much of a say in how their modern government was shaped. But that may soon change, after a tribal judge cleared the way for a special election on a restructuring that could alter the balance of power on the sprawling reservation.

The government structure was forced upon Navajo voters 86 years ago and was reorganized under three branches without their consent.

Maybe Navajos “will have a greater sense of ownership in the government than they now have,” said Dale Mason, who teaches Navajo government at the University of New Mexico, Gallup.

In 1923, the federal government created the Tribal Council to sign off on oil and gas leases. Before that, Navajos largely governed themselves. Small bands were led by headmen, or naataanii, who came together only in times of crisis to solve problems that extended beyond their communities.

Even if such a meeting, called a naachid, resulted in a decision to act, no Navajo was bound to comply.

With the discovery of oil on the reservation in 1922, the federal government needed an entity to deal with for leasing matters. It appointed three Navajos to a business council, but soon realized that the group needed to be more representative and expanded it to include delegates from across the reservation.

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Navajo Nation Supreme Court Summer Clerkship Announcement

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Navajo Nation Supreme Court is seeking summer law clerks for summer 2008.  The Navajo Nation Supreme Court is a full-time court of last resort for the largest Indian tribe in the United States.  Its offices are located in Window Rock, Arizona, twenty-six miles north of Gallup, New Mexico.  Summer law clerks assist the justices of the Supreme Court in researching cases filed before the Court.  

            There are two paid positions, and, depending on space, at least one unpaid position for which law school credit can be earned.  Housing in the Window Rock area is provided for all positions.  The Navajo Nation Supreme Court adheres to the Navajo Preference in Employment Act in hiring law clerks.

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