Ñý¼§Ö±²¥

June 2-6; Indian Law Research

Instructor: Kekek Stark, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ – Alexander Blewett III School of Law

Because tribes are sovereign governments, the field of Indian Law encompasses distinct legal issues and legal sources. Researching both federal Indian law (the law of the relationship between tribal governments and the U.S. government) and tribal law (the law of individual tribes) requires an additional set of tools and research skills to those Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ are introduced to in a basic legal research course. In this course, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ will learn the skills and sources necessary to research general Indian law issues as well as the very specialized skills and sources used in researching the legal history of a tribe, including reserved treaty rights. The course will cover researching treaties, Indian land claims, statutory and case law, and tribal law. Students will actively participate in creating a tribal legal history throughout the course.

June 9-13; Introduction to American Indian Law – Mastering American Indian Law

Instructor: Lauren VanShilfgaarde, UCLA College of Law

This course looks at fundamental aspects of American Indian law and provides a basic understanding of core Indian law principles, both on the federal and tribal level. The course familiarizes participants with the development of foundational concepts in the area of Indian law and addresses the continuing impact of federal legislation and court actions on tribal governance structures and principles of sovereignty. In addition to providing substantive information on legal principles associated with American Indian law, participants will engage in practical skill-building exercises that build upon the substantive materials being covered.

June 16-20; Political Questions in Federal Indian Law

Instructor: Dan Lewerenz, University of North Dakota School of Law

This course will consider Federal Indian Law through the lens of Constitutional Law, in particular the Political Questions Doctrine.  Students who have not yet taken Federal Indian Law will get an introduction to the subject in a context (Constitutional Law) with which already they are familiar; Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ who have taken Federal Indian Law will get to see the subject in a new light.

June 23-27; Overincarceration and Wrongful Convictions of Native Americans

Instructor: Caiti Carpenter, Attorney

This course looks at the overincarceration and wrongful convictions of Native Americans, and the corresponding consequences that affects Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada, especially Indigenous women.

July 7-11; Taxation in Indian Country

Instructor: Pippa Browde, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ – Alexander Blewett III School of Law

Economic development is a critical component of tribal sovereignty. When a state asserts taxing authority within Indian Country, there is potential for overlapping, or juridical, taxation over the same transaction. Actual or even potential juridical taxation threatens economic development opportunities for tribes. For many years, tribes and states have entered into intergovernmental agreements called tax compacts to reduce or eliminate juridical taxation. Existing literature has done little more than mention tax compacts with cursory cost-benefit analyses of the agreements. This course will critically examine the role tax compacts serve in promoting tribes’ economic development and analyzes whether compacts live up to the promise of resolving juridical taxation in a manner that fosters economic development opportunities for tribes.

July 14-18; Indian Child Welfare Act

Instructor: Kathryn Fort, Michigan State University College of Law

This course focuses on the specific legal issues facing American Indian children in the United States. Much of the focus will be on the implementation, interpretation, and understanding of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).  ICWA, a federal statute interpreted almost entirely in state courts, applies to all terminations of parental rights if the child involved is an Indian child under the law’s definition. Congress passed this law was passed in 1978 in response to the overwhelming numbers of Indian children in foster care and adopted away from their tribes and families.  However, the course will also address issues in state welfare systems, the history of Native children and state actors, and current tribal social service practices.

July 21-25; Indian Country Litigation

Instructor: Danna Jackson, CSKT Legal Department

Litigation in Indian Country involves an increasingly complex and challenging social, economic, and political environment, requiring sophisticated legal analysis and strong advocacy. This course will examine the law and tools necessary for engaging in litigation pertaining to Indian Country.

July 28-Aug 1; The Laws and Policies of Co-Management and Land Back

Instructor: Brian Upton, CSKT Legal Department; and Monte Mills, University of Washington School of Law

Since time immemorial, Native Nations and their citizens have engaged in deep relations with the lands, waters, wildlife, and natural environment of what is now the United States. Over the last two centuries, various laws, policies, and practices imposed upon those Nations dispossessed them of many of those connections. Where they persisted, applicable laws and policies often ignored or marginalized such Indigenous interests in the ownership or management of what came to be known as natural resources. Consistent with the rise of Indigenous sovereignty over the last half-century, Native Nations are now actively reviving, reclaiming, and expanding their roles in the stewardship of lands, waters, wildlife, and ecosystems, both within and beyond their Reservation homelands. With a focus on federal public lands and resources, this course explores the history, context, and evolution of the current laws and policies relevant to that movement, including the legal and policy strategies of co-management, co-stewardship, and land back.

Aug 1-7; Field Course: The Law of People and Place – Salmon River (in conjunction with ) –

Instructor: Monte Mills, University of Washington School of Law; and Michelle Bryan, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ – Alexander Blewett III School of Law

This place-based learning experience focuses on the Salmon River and the myriad natural resource, environmental, governmental, legal, policy, and practical issues embedded in this region. We approach these issues by immersing ourselves in the place and working to understand the ways in which law and policy interact with it. Aside from the course faculty, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ will hear from tribal representatives, private conservationists, federal land managers, and other stakeholders involved in management of the Salmon region. Themes explored include the myth and reality of public lands; wildlife management across jurisdictions; water law; cooperative management; and the intersection of tribal rights, sovereignty, and interests with federal, state, and private interests—both historical and continuing.

Instructor:

Mylinn Smith
Managing Attorney
CSKT Tribal Prosecutors Office

This course looks at fundamental aspects of American Indian law and provides a basic understanding of core Indian law principles, both on the federal and tribal level. The course familiarizes participants with the development of foundational concepts in the area of Indian law and addresses the continuing impact of federal legislation and court actions on tribal governance structures and principles of sovereignty. In addition to providing substantive information on legal principles associated with American Indian law, participants will engage in practical skill-building exercises that build upon the substantive materials being covered.

Asynchronous Online Course

Instructor:

Professor Kekek Stark
Alexander Blewett III School of Law
Ñý¼§Ö±²¥

Because tribes are sovereign governments, the field of Indian Law encompasses distinct legal issues and legal sources. Researching both federal Indian law (the law of the relationship between tribal governments and the U.S. government) and tribal law (the law of individual tribes) requires an additional set of tools and research skills to those Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ are introduced to in a basic legal research course. In this course, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ will learn the skills and sources necessary to research general Indian law issues as well as the very specialized skills and sources used in researching the legal history of a tribe, including reserved treaty rights. The course will cover researching treaties, Indian land claims, statutory and case law, and tribal law. Students will actively participate in creating a tribal legal history throughout the course.

Field Course: Location Salmon and Lochsa River Systems (in conjunction with )

Instructors:

Professor Michelle Bryan
Alexander Blewett III School of Law
Ñý¼§Ö±²¥

Professor Monte Mills
University of Washington School of Law

This place-based learning experience focuses on the Salmon and Lochsa River systems and the myriad natural resource, environmental, governmental, legal, policy, and practical issues embedded in this region. We approach these issues by immersing ourselves in the place and working to understand the ways in which law and policy interact with it. Aside from the course faculty, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ will hear from tribal representatives, private conservationists, federal land managers, and other stakeholders involved in management of the Nez Perce region. Themes explored include the myth and reality of public lands; wildlife management across jurisdictions; water law; cooperative management; and the intersection of tribal rights, sovereignty, and interests with federal, state, and private interests—both historical and continuing.

Instructor:

Courtney Allensworth Esposito
Supervisory Indian Probate Judge
Probate Hearings Division
United States Department of the Interior

This course will focus on the historical policies behind, and the current provisions of, the American Indian Probate Reform Act. In particular, the Act's creation of the first federal Indian probate code, testate and intestate succession laws applicable to federal trust realty and personalty, land consolidation opportunities for individuals and tribes, and tribal probate code development. Additionally, this course will explore estate planning options that individual trust landowners can use to control and distribute their trust lands during their lifetime and through the probate process.

Instructor:

Dean and Professor Kevin Washburn
University of Iowa College of Law

This course examines tribal co-management issues associated with public land management and regulation. The subject matter of the course will take an in-depth analysis of select tribal co-management examples along with the regulatory infrastructure to effectively implement tribal co-management on public lands.

Instructor:

Professor Dan Lawerenz
University of North Dakota School of Law

Treaties and statutes are critical instruments in federal Indian law.  We will begin with a study of treaties: how they become law, how courts interpret them, and how the Indian context affects both formation and interpretation.  Next, we will study statutes: how they become law, how courts interpret them, and how the Indian context affects both formation and interpretation.  Of particular interest are federal Indian law’s many negotiated statutes—which in some ways resemble treaties, and in other ways resemble statutes.  Students who complete the course will be better equipped to interpret treaties and statutes both generally and in federal Indian law.

Instructors:

Professor Jordan Gross
University of Idaho College of Law (Boise Campus)
Director, Rural Justice Initiative, Alexander Blewett III School of Law
Ñý¼§Ö±²¥

Ann Miller
Managing Attorney
CSKT Tribal Defenders Office

Maylinn Smith
Managing Attorney
CSKT Tribal Prosecutors Office

Additional Guest Instructors TBA

Assimilationist federal policies and resource constraints have required or incentivized Indian Nations to organize their criminal codes and justice systems around Anglo-American justice norms.  Many Tribes have found this approach to be ineffective in protecting public safety in their communities, misaligned with their justice traditions, and incompatible with their sovereignty interests. To better meet their community's needs, some Tribes have re-centered their approach to addressing harmful conduct on non-carceral, restorative, community-based principles. In 2023, the United States had the sixth highest incarceration rate in the world. State and federal policymakers and court systems seeking to reduce these numbers often look to Tribal initiatives as models for reform. This course examines contemporary holistic, interdisciplinary, collaborative Tribal approaches to wrongdoing, and explores whether these reforms are translatable to settler-colonial criminal justice systems. The Wednesday class is a full day field learning session in Pablo on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The field session will include a visit to the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Tribal Court, CSKT Tribal Defenders Office, and CSKT Tribal Prosecutors Office. Transportation is provided between Missoula and Pablo.   

Instructor:

Wesley Furlong
Senior Staff Attorney
Native American Rights Fund

This course focuses on the contemporary legal protection of Indigenous cultural resources, and the role of the law in protecting Indigenous cultural heritage. Following completion of the course, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ will understand the Tribal Cultural Resource law. This course specifically focuses on NHPA and the Section 106 process, ARPA, NAGPRA, and the Antiquities Act, and will also cover over laws related to cultural resource protection, including NEPA, RFRA and the First Amendment, Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, among others.

Instructor:

Professor Anna Conley
Alexander Blewett III School of Law
Ñý¼§Ö±²¥

This course will focus on indigenous rights from an international human rights perspective. It will compare how indigenous communities in different countries have utilized indigenous rights as an international human right to advocate for rights within domestic legal frameworks.