Federal Indian Law

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Owley11-16-16

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Owley11-14-16

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Owley10-31-16

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Owley10-26-16

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1. Which federal laws apply to tribes? How can we tell which laws apply?
2. Does an Indian preference (like the one we see in Morton v. Mancari for example) violate equal protection laws? Why or why not? What type of scrutiny should we apply for laws indicating Indian preferences?
3. What does it mean when we say a tribe has sovereign immunity? What are the on-the-grounds implications?
4. When does a tribe lose its sovereign immunity?
5. What about federal sovereign immunity? When can a tribe bring suit against the federal government? What types of suits can they bring?
6. When is congressional recognition of tribal property rights important? What happens when a tribe has not had such recognition?
7. What is the source of the federal trust responsibility?
8. What are the contours of that responsibility? That is, when does the federal government owe a fiduciary duty to a tribe and what does that mean?
9. Can you explain the holdings of Mitchell I and Mitchell II?
10. How would you distinguish the trust cases White Mountain Apache and Navajo Nation?
11. In Cobell, what was the cause of action? What role did the Indian canons play?
12. What was the result of Cobell? Explain what it meant for the plaintiffs and what it might mean for future cases.
13. How do you define Indian Tribe?
14. Why does official designation as a tribe matter?
15. Can you be a tribe without federal recognition? (see Passamaquoddy case)
16. How do we define Indian Country? Why do we need to define it? Where does this definition come into play?
17. What does it mean for a reservation to be “diminished”? How do we determine when a reservation has become diminished? (Solem, Hagan, South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux)
18. What is a dependent Indian community? (Venetie case)
19. What types of cases can a tribe bring in seeking to settle land claims?
20. Does the doctrine of laches apply to Indian land claims?

class-13-slides

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Owley10-24-16

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class-12-slides

class-11-slides

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Owley10-19-16

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