This course will focus on conflicting assertions of tribal, federal, and state authority affecting Indian tribes in Indian country. The objective of the course is to facilitate a deeper understanding of the origins, essence, and trajectory of current doctrine and theory defining the scope and limits tribal, federal, and state power in Indian country. Special attention will be paid to the emergence and dominance of the discrete but related concepts of the "implicit divestiture" of tribal sovereignty, state infringement of tribal self-government, and federal preemption of state authority in Indian country. Supreme Court cases addressing these concepts will be examined in their entirety, with students assigned to initiate discussions of cases on a rotating basis. Occasionally, important articles by Indian law scholars and other commentators also will be assigned. There will be no exams for this course. Instead, the course will entail two major writing requirements: (1) a midterm paper tracing and critically evaluating the development of one or more of the jurisdictional doctrines and concepts covered in class; and (2) an assigned, simulated "dissenting opinion" to one of the numerous 9-0 Indian law decisions of the Rehnquist Court, due at the end of the semester. Grades will be based on the quality of students' written work and class participation.
To enroll in the course, students must have taken Indian Law or else have obtained the professor's permission based on significant previous work or study relating to the field of Indian law.