Indian Law Program
Indian Law Faculty
Gloria Valencia-Weber
"I teach Indian law because it is the enduring ethical flaw in U.S. law. The five hundred years of contact between the first sovereigns within the Americas and the Europeans have created historical and legal wrongs yet to be acknowledged and corrected. The U.S. vision of justice lacks full inclusion of tribal sovereignty, the power to create and continue a distinct cultural way of life. The will of Congress, the Supreme Court, and Executive administrations subject indigenous peoples to ever-changing political whims and purposes. The counterfactual theories of discovery and conquest of inferior indigenous peoples hold American Indians in the insecurity of colonialism in the twenty-first century. With ethnic minorities, women, and persons with disability, U.S. jurisprudence has moved away from the denial of human rights. Indigenous peoples and their rights, especially the power of self-governance that distinguishes the tribal sovereigns from other racial groups, remains the big challenge. Can the Constitutional vision that promised fairness, justice, and respect for inalienable rights be harnessed to permanently protect American Indians? This is frontier work involving international law within the U.S. borders as well as the world. The work done in this area by tribes, American Indian lawyers, Indian law teachers, and students is difficult, complex, and inspiring. Working with these extraordinary people fuels the many reasons why I am committed to Indian law."
