Native Nations Law & Policy Center - December Newsletter & Year in Review

December 2021 Newsletter

Bozho,

Happy Winter Solstice, Holidays, and New Year! The Native Nations Law and Policy Center joins the rest of the world in eagerly bidding adieu to 2021. That said, we are grateful for the expansive advocacy taking place on behalf of tribal communities. Your continuing resilience is testament to Indigenous wisdom and the power of community. We are excited for a stimulating lineup of Indigenous legal events and scholarship on the horizon of 2022. But until then, we send our warmest wishes to you and your family in these days of the new light.

Megwetch,

Angela R. Riley (Citizen Potawatomi Nation)

Professor of Law and Director, Native Nations Law and Policy Center

2021 Year in Review

NNLPC Director Professor Angela R. Riley wrote an opinion article for the Washington Times with Professor Sonia K. Katyal and Rachel Lim of University of California at Berkeley. The Jeep Cherokee is not a tribute to Indians

NNLPC Director Professor Angela R. Riley presented at Stanford's NALSA Forum on Professor Elizabeth Reese’s “The Other American Law”

Our NALSA students competed in the 29th Annual National Native American Law Students Association (NNALSA) Moot Court Competition. They were coached by Professor Lauren Van Schilfgaarde.

Our alumna student, Geneva E.B. Thompson ('16), was appointed to Assistant Secretary for Tribal Affairs at the California Natural Resources Agency.

TLDC Clinic Director, Professor Lauren van Schilfgaarde, co-authored an article in the ABA Human Rights Magazine, The Next Four Years for Indian Country Need Human Rights

TLDC Director, Professor Lauren van Schilfgaarde, was quoted in an article featured on Katie Couric's website, "Indigenous Women are Going Missing at Alarming Rates — Here’s Why You Haven’t Heard About it: Read it here: https://katiecouric.com/news/why-are-indigenous-women-going-missing-and-cases-ignored/

NNLPC Director Professor Angela R. Riley is a signatory along with other Indian Law professors on an Amici brief regarding Tribal sovereign immunity. Read the brief here: https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/native-sovereign-ca1-amicus.pdf

TLDC Clinic Director Professor Lauren van Schilfgaarde co-authored an Amici brief regarding Native reproductive justice. Read the brief here: http://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-1392/192846/20210917173106773_NIWRC%20Main%20EFILE%20Sep%2017%2021.pdf.

NNLPC Director Professor Angela R. Riley and TLDC Clinic Director Professor Lauren van Schilfgaarde were signatories along with other Indian Law professors on a white paper regarding STOP Act and the importance of the international repatriation of cultural patrimony. Read the white paper here: https://www.indian-affairs.org/uploads/8/7/3/8/87380358/stop_act_white_paper.pdf

NNLPC and the Indian Legal Program at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU held a webinar Gathering of Indigenous Legal Scholars in December, the goal was to cultivate a community of support for current and future legal scholars in the field of Indigenous law. Professor Angela R. Riley spoke about developing research agendas for students.

Tribal Legal Development Clinic

The Tribal Legal Development Clinic was busy in 2021 and was able to hold spring, summer, and fall clinics that allowed the law students to work directly with tribal leaders, officers, and attorneys to provide legal development services to Indian tribes.

Spring 2020:

The Clinic worked with Red Lake Nation. The Red Lake Nation is exploring codification strategies for implementing the special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction provisions for prosecuting non-Indian offenders on tribal lands. The Clinic assisted in research and drafted proposed language in partnership with the Tribe.

The Tribal Legal Development Clinic partnered with the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic for the Yurok Tribe’s Food Sovereignty Division. The clinics researched legal barriers and opportunities for increasing tribal member access to participate in cultural harvesting on tribal ancestral territory.

The Clinic worked with California Tribal Families Coalition. Clinic students researched how state child welfare law intersects with tribal law regarding customary adoption and artificial reproductive technology, all with the eye towards uplifting compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Summer 2020:

Summer student clerks worked on projects for Pueblo of Isleta regarding cultural resource protection, the Quechan Indian Tribe regarding PL 280, and the Ho Chunk Supreme Court.

Fall 2021:

The Clinic worked on a number of projects, including with the Wiyot Tribe, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and the Pueblo Action Alliance.

As always, the Clinic welcomes project solicitations from tribes and tribal organizations. Inquire here!

A Collaborative White Paper Produced By The UCLA Tribal Legal Development Clinic and Pueblo Action Alliance

Starting in 2020 the Clinic and Pueblo Action Alliance joined together to work on a white paper to discuss the shortcomings of federal policy that are supposed to protect Indigenous people’s right to religious freedom, cultural and historic preservation, environmental and natural/cultural resource protection and environmental justice. This paper provides a discussion of co-management or co-stewardship strategies that provide tribes the jurisdictional authority over how public lands and it’s natural resources are managed.

Visit Pueblo Action Alliance's website to read more and download the white paper: https://www.puebloactionalliance.org/protectgreaterchaco

Graton Scholars

Our first cohort of Graton Scholar's joined us at UCLA Law Native Nations Law & Policy Center. Ashley Anderson, Shara Burwell and Rachel Hsu received full-tuition scholarships for their three years at the law school by a generous grant from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.

Please read more about them here.

Ashley Anderson (Cherokee)

Shara Burwell

(Leech Lake)

Rachel Hsu

Law Publications

NNLPC Director Professor Angela R. Riley has produced two law review publications: Decolonizing Indigenous Migration, California Law Review 2021 (with Kristen A. Carpenter) and The Ascension of Indigenous Cultural Property Law, Michigan Law Review (forthcoming).

TLDC Director Professor Lauren van Schilfgaarde has produced two law review publications: Kelly Gaines Stoner and Lauren van Schilfgaarde, Tribal Authority to Issue Civil Protection Orders, Tribal Law Journal, Vol. 21 (forthcoming) and Brett Shelton and Lauren van Schilfgaarde, Using Peacemaking to Indigenize Tribal Child Welfare, Columbia Journal of Race and Law.

UCLA Newsroom

Law students support Yurok Tribe effort to access culturally important species

The Tribal Legal Development Clinic and the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic worked with the Yurok Tribe to research the legal barriers and opportunities for increasing tribal member access to participate in cultural harvesting on tribal ancestral territory.

Read more about the clinic's work with the Yurok Tribe in this article from the UCLA Newsroom.

Tribal Clinic Develops Toolkit to Help Indigenous Peoples Assert Their Rights

The “Tribal Implementation Toolkit” was developed by students and faculty in UCLA School of Law’s Tribal Legal Development Clinic, in collaboration with students and attorneys at the University of Colorado Law School and the Native American Rights Fund, or NARF.

Read more about the clinic's work on the Toolkit in this article from the UCLA Newsroom.

NNLPC Publications

Project to Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States

The NNLPC is pleased to announce the launch of the “Tribal Implementation Toolkit.”

The “Tribal Implementation Toolkit,” produced in collaboration between the Native American Rights Fund, the University of Colorado Law School, and UCLA Law’s Tribal Legal Development Clinic, considers how tribes can support and implement the Declaration through tribal lawmaking.

Learn more here: https://un-declaration.narf.org

Both the full color version of the Toolkit and the text-only versions are available here: https://un-declaration.narf.org/resources/

The Need for Confidentiality Protection within Tribal Cultural Resource Protection

The Tribal Legal Development Clinic is pleased to announce the publication of “The Need for Confidentiality Protection within Tribal Cultural Resource Protection”.

Researched and drafted as a Clinic project, this publication seeks to provide insight into the confidentiality concerns and barriers that tribes frequently encounter when attempting to protect their cultural resources. The publication then poses some potential strategies and policy fixes to address some of these barriers. This publication is available for free HERE.

Gatherings

With the continuing pandemic and many changing protocols we were not able to have many public facing events in 2021, however we were able to have a few UCLA community events this year in-person. We look forward to 2022 when we can see more of you!