School of Law Professor Emerita Participates in Discussion at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
March 31, 2025
On February 4, 2025, the Program in Law and Public Policy (PILPP) at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs hosted a discussion titled “The Conflicts of Anti-Colonialism: A Tribal Right to Discriminate on the Basis of Sex?” The talk centered on a key issue that emerged in recent Supreme Court cases regarding Native American tribes’ sovereign rights. Last year, the Court heard three important cases concerning the authority of Native American tribes, one of which marked a significant victory for tribal sovereignty.
PILPP welcomed Audrey Martinez, a plaintiff in one of these Supreme Court cases, to discuss the tensions between respecting tribal choices and protecting individual rights, particularly in relation to gender-based discrimination in tribal membership rules. Alongside Martinez, the panel of speakers included New York Times best-selling author Julian Zelizer, former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal Josh Prager, Professor of Indigenous Studies in Anthropology J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, and UNM School of Law Professor Emerita Gloria Valencia-Weber.
Professor Emerita Valencia-Weber is a legal scholar, Regents Professor, and Henry Welhofen Professor at the UNM School of Law. She has played a pivotal role in the development of the Law and Indigenous Peoples Program, which is recognized as one of the top programs in the nation. Her research focuses on the evolution of U.S. federal Indian law, and she has published scholarship on Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, the case at the heart of the discussion.
A full recording of the discussion can be viewed here.
