Newswise — The Michigan State University College of Law (MSU Law) American Indian Law Program will hold its inaugural indigenous law conference, "Tribal Constitutional Issues in the Self-determination Era," Friday, Oct. 29, at the law college on the MSU campus.
The conference will feature tribal constitutional law experts as well as tribal leaders and attorneys who represent several Indian nations. The discussions will include separation of powers among tribal branches of government, the tribal constitutional revision process, executive branch perspectives, as well as legal and judicial perspectives.
This conference is based on the federal Indian policy period that began in 1934. Congress enacted the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) " a substantial change in federal Indian policy " from allotment and association to newly organized tribal governance. Even though the IRA ended the devastating policy of allotment, it created both opportunities and problems in tribal government structure. The IRA provided for the adoption of tribal constitutions, with boiler plate provisions and the requirement of federal approval, thereby preventing the desires of the tribal communities.
Today, there are approximately 562 federally recognized tribes in the United States, 12 of which are geographically surrounded by the state of Michigan. Of those tribes, 161 tribal governments have so-called IRA constitutions and more than 75 tribes have non-IRA constitutions. As pre-constitutional and extra-constitutional governments, Indian tribes have the right to form their own government, adjudicate legal cases, levy taxes within their territory, establish citizenship processes and generally decide their own collective future.
"However, problems remain for Indian tribes that wish to amend and create new constitutions that accurately reflect their community norms," said Donald "Del" Laverdure, assistant professor of law at MSU Law and director of the American Indian Law Program. Laverdure is a tribal member and serves as chief justice of the Crow Nation; he is also an appellate judge of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and is chairing this conference.
"During this favorable federal Indian policy period of tribal self-determination, in some ways analogous to international indigenous self-determination, it is time to reflect on current tribal self-governance and participate in a forum that debates the future process by which Indian tribes can truly become independent and self-sustaining sovereign governments," Laverdure said.
MSU Law's American Indian Law Program is among the most comprehensive program in the nation. MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. To extend its commitment to educational excellence, the college affiliated with MSU in 1995 and moved to MSU's East Lansing campus in 1997. The move enabled the law college to build state-of-the-art facilities and to provide the benefits of a Big Ten campus.
MSU College of Law strengthened its affiliation with Michigan State University this year, becoming more closely aligned academically. The association between the two schools has led to a comprehensive interdisciplinary legal education program at the law college. Today, the college remains the nation's oldest continually operating independent law school and one of only two private law schools to be affiliated with a research university.
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