The erosion of tribal power : the Supreme Court's silent revolution / Dewi Ioan Ball.

Author
Ball, Dewi Ioan [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Norman, Oklahoma : University of Oklahoma Press, [2016]
Description
viii, 311 pages ; 24 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks KIE2055 .B35 2016 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    "For the past 180 years, the inherent power of indigenous tribes to govern themselves has been a central tenet of federal Indian law. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's repeated confirmation of Native sovereignty since the early 1830s, it has, in the past half-century, incrementally curtailed the power of tribes to govern non-Indians on Indian reservations. The result, Dewi Ioan Ball argues, has been a "silent revolution," mounted by particular justices so gradually and quietly that the significance of the Court's rulings has largely evaded public scrutiny. Ball begins his examination of the erosion of tribal sovereignty by reviewing the so-called Marshall trilogy, the three cases that established two fundamental principles: tribal sovereignty and the power of Congress to protect Indian tribes from the encroachment of state law. Neither the Supreme Court nor Congress has remained faithful to these principles, Ball shows. Beginning with Williams v. Lee, a 1959 case that highlighted the tenuous position of Native legal authority over reservation lands and their residents, Ball analyzes multiple key cases, demonstrating how the Supreme Court's decisions weakened the criminal, civil, and taxation authority of tribal nations. During an era when many tribes were strengthening their economies and preserving their cultural identities, the high court was undermining sovereignty. In Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley (2001) and Nevada v. Hicks (2001), for example, the Court all but obliterated tribal authority over non-Indians on Native land. By drawing on the private papers of Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justices Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, William O. Douglas, Lewis F. Powell Jr., and Hugo L. Black, Ball offers crucial insight into federal Indian law from the perspective of the justices themselves. The Erosion of Tribal Power shines much-needed light on crucial changes to federal Indian law between 1959 and 2001 and discusses how tribes have dealt with the political and economic consequences of the Court's decisions."--Pub;isher's website.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-299) and index.
    Contents
    • The tribes, federal Indiana law, and the Indian Sovereignty Doctrine from the nineteenth century to 1959
    • The foundations of the silent revolution, 1959-1973
    • The silent revolution, 1973-2001
    • Native America, congress, and the silent revolution
    • The effects of the silent revolution
    • Native American "nation building" during the silent revolution.
    ISBN
    • 9780806155654 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
    • 0806155655 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
    LCCN
    2016020389
    OCLC
    948427430
    Statement on language in description
    Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
    Other views
    Staff view

    Supplementary Information