AMERICAN INDIAN LAW GUIDE

Federally recognized Indian tribes are sovereign nations with their own set of laws, regulations and court systems. As you begin your research, be sure to review State, Federal and Tribal materials. This web guide focuses on Massachusetts and Federal American Indian Law materials, with links to general and tribal websites, caselaw, statutes, regulations, and select law review articles. The Suffolk University Moakley Law Library has many related materials in the treatises section on the 5th floor and in the reference collection on the 6th floor. Be sure to consult the Library's online catalog for more detail.

Major Web Sites

Federally Recognized Tribes

New England Tribes

Other Tribes

Massachusetts Cases

Massachusetts Statutes

Federal Materials

• Statutes
• Regulations
• Supreme Court Cases
  Law Review Articles

• For a Complete list of Federally Recognized Tribes, see 67 Fed. Reg. 46328 (July 12, 2002)
  
  NEW ENGLAND TRIBES

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  * not federally recognized

  Aroostook Band of Micmacs P.O. Box 772, Presque Isle, ME 04769 Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians 88 Bell Road, Littleton, ME 04730 Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation P.O. Box 3060, Mashantucket, CT 06339 Mohegan Indian Tribe P.O. Box 488, Uncasville, CT 06382 Narrangansett Indian Tribe P.O. Box 268, Charlestown, RI 02813

  Passamaquoddy Tribe - Pleasant Point Reservation P.O. Box 343, Perry, ME 04667 The Paucatuck Eastern Pequot tribe * P.O. Box 370 North Stonington, Connecticut 06359 Penobscot Indian Nation 6 River Road, Indian Island, ME 04468 Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) 20 Black Brook Rd., Aquinnah, MA 02535

  
  
  OTHER TRIBES

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  Alaskan Athabascans Aleut Apache Jicarilla or Yavapai Blackfoot Cherokee Cheyenne Chickasaw Chippewa Choctaw Comanche Creek Eskimo

  Iroquis Lumbee Native Hawaiians Navajo Paiute Pima Potawatomi Pueblo Puget Sound Salish Seminole - Florida or Oklahoma Sioux Tlingit Tohono O'odham

  MASSACHUSETTS CASES

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  To access any of the following cases, go to Westlaw or LEXIS
  
  
  • Mashpee Tribe v. New Seabury Corp, 592 F 2d 575 (1979)
  • Mashpee Tribe v. Watt, 542 F. Supp. 797 (1982)
  • Mashpee Tribe v. Secretary of the Interior, 820 F2d 480 (1987)
  • Com v. Maxim, 695 N.E. 2d 212, 45 Mass App Ct. 49 (1998)
  • Com v. Maxim, 708 N. E. 2d 636, 429 Mass 287 (1999)
  • Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) v. Mass Com'n Against Discrim., 63 F. Supp 2d 119 (1999)
  • Adoption of Arnold, 741 NE 2d 456, 50 Mass App Ct 743 (2001)
  MASSACHUSETTS STATUTES

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  • Chapter 6A: Section 8A. Commission on Indian affairs; membership; functions
  • Chapter 7: Section 38A. Skeletal remains; preservation; excavation; analysis
  • Chapter 9: Section 26A. State archaeologist; duties; reservation of lands from sale; cooperation of governmental agencies.
  • Chapter 6: Section 12I. American Indian heritage week.
  • Chapter 114: Section 17. Preservation of ancient burial places.
  • Chapter 38: Section 6. Discovery of skeletal remains likely to be Native American.
  FEDERAL MATERIALS

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  Statutes

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• 25 U.S.C. - Indians
  
  
  Regulations

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• Title 25 C.F.R. - Indians
  
  
  Supreme Court Cases

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• Johnson v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. 543 (1823)
• Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. 1 (1831)
• Worcester v. Goergia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832)
• U.S. v. Winans, 198 U.S. 371 (1905)
• Bryan v. Itasca County, Minnesota, 426 U.S. 373 (1976)
• United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313 (1978)
• Mashpee v. Mashpee Tribe, 444 U.S. 866 (1979), cert denied
• Connecticut v. Mohegan Tribe , 452 U.S. 968 (1981)
• Mashpee Tribe v. Clark, 464 U.S. 1020 (1983), cert denied
• Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association, 485 U.S.439 (1988)
• Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citizan Band of Potawatomi Tribe, 498 U.S. 505 (1991)
• South Dakota v. Bourland, 508 U.S. 679 (1993)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495 (2000)
  LAW REVIEW ARTICLES

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  To access any of the following cases, go to Westlaw or LEXIS

• Atwood, Barbara Ann. Tribal Jurisprudence and cultural meanings of the family. 79 Neb. L. Rev. 577 (2000)

• Baker, Mark T. Note. The hollow promise of tribal power to control the flow of alcohol into Indian Country. 88 Va. L. Rev. 685-737 (2002)

• Ansson, Richard J., Jr. and Ladine Oravetz. Tribal economic development: what challenges lie ahead for tribal nations as they continue to strive for economic diversity? 11 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 441-484 (2001-02).

• Carter, Nancy Carol. American Indians and law libraries: Acknowledging the third sovereign. 94 Law Libr. J. 7 (2002)

• Charging, Leonika. Casenote. A taxing decision on tribal sovereign power. (Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley, 121 S. Ct. 1825, 2000.) 47 S.D. L. Rev. 134-156 (2002).

• Cunningham, Larry. Deputization of Indian prosecutors: Protecting Indian interests in Federal Court. 88 Geo. L.J. 2187, 2210 (2000)

• Day O'Connor, Sandra. Lessons from the Third Sovereign: Indian Tribal Courts. 33 TULSA L.J. 1, 1 (1997)

• Miller, Robert J. Economic development in Indian country: will capitalism or socialism succeed? 80 Or. L. Rev. 757-859 (2001)

• Newton, Nell Jessup. Tribal Court Praxis: One year in the life of twenty Indian Tribal Courts. 22 Am. Indian L. Rev. 285 (1998)

• Porter, Robert B. Cleaning up the colonizer's mess: An important role for legal scholarship about the indigenous nations. 50 U. Kan. L. Rev. 431 (2002)

• Seielstad, Andrea M. The recognition and evolution of tribal sovereign immunity under federal law: legal, historical, and normative reflections on a fundamental aspect of American Indian sovereignty. 37 Tulsa L. Rev. 661-776 (2002).

  Created by Diane D'Angelo, Reference Librarian.
  Last modified: July 25, 2006