Bozho,
Happy Autumn, and transition into the quiet season. I am beyond thrilled to share the news that the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria has made a $15 million donation to UCLA Law Native Nations Law & Policy Center to advance the study and practice of Native American law. We are deeply grateful to the Tribe for this transformative gift and look forward to the incredible opportunity this presents for students seeking to work in this field. A debt of gratitude goes to UCLA Law Dean Jennifer Mnookin for her leadership. And, as all who are familiar with Indian law know, none of this would be possible without our super-shero, Carole Goldberg!
Despite physically distancing, we have been incredibly social this month with the remaining two of our four Red Rising Speaker Series events, along with numerous additional speaking events in which the Center has participated. We have been honored to be part of the coming together of Indian country to discuss pressing legal and policy issues. No doubt, this work will continue. In the meantime, get out the vote!
Sincerely,
Angela R. Riley (Citizen Potawatomi Nation)
Professor of Law and Director, Native Nations Law and Policy Center
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UCLA Law Receives $15 Million Donation to Boost Native American Law and Policy |
UCLA School of Law has received a $15 million donation from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria to advance the study and practice of Native American law. The gift is the largest-ever contribution that a tribe has made to a law school and one of the biggest in history from a tribe to a university. The funds will be dedicated to scholarships for Native American and other students interested in pursuing careers as tribal legal advocates. The gift will create the Graton Scholars program at UCLA Law’s Native Nations Law and Policy Center. Graton Scholars will be among the best and brightest Native students and others interested in pursuing careers as tribal advocates. Each year, they will receive full-tuition scholarships that will cover all three years of law school at UCLA Law, which is well established as the nation’s premier law school for Indian law.
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A Historic Supreme Court Victory for Oklahoma Tribes: The McGirt Decision and its Impact |
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NNLPC Faculty in the News |
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Native Nations Law & Policy Center Founding Director, Carole E. Goldberg spoke to the The Marshall Project about Ruth Bader Ginsberg's legacy.
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Red Rising: Indigenous Peoples and
Political Participation Series
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Red Rising featured a series of discussions and lectures with internationally and nationally renowned scholars, leaders, academics, and politicians around the theme of
Indigenous Peoples and Political Participation.
Please click on the links below to view the videos of past events
in the Red Rising Series:
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McGirt v. Oklahoma A Mvskoke Triumph
On July 9, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in
McGirt v. Oklahoma, holding that
the reservation boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, as articulated in its treaties with the United States, remained intact.
While the decision was a simple application of the rule of law, it rocked a century of jurisdictional encroachment. This panel explored the decision and its legal reasoning, and importantly, what a post-McGirt future entails for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and all of Indian country.
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The Execution of Lezmond Mitchell: Disdain for Life and Sovereignty
On August 19, 2020, the federal government executed Lezmond Mitchell, the only American Indian under a federal death penalty sentence. Under the Federal Death Penalty Act, the federal government promised that it would not seek the death penalty against American Indians who committed crimes against other American Indians on tribal land unless the tribe agreed. The Navajo Nation did not agree. This panel explored the legal issues surrounding this case, including tribal sovereignty, criminal jurisdiction, and the role of the death penalty within American Indian communities.
The Native Nations Law and Policy Center, along with Co-Sponsor UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies held a Zoom event on September 17, 2020. Moderated by Professor Angela R. Riley and joined by Jennifer Denetdale, Professor of American Studies, University of New Mexico, Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law, Addie C. Rolnick, Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Carl Slater, Navajo Nation Council Delegate.
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The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration) is a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly which recognizes that indigenous peoples have fundamental collective human rights in many areas, including self-determination, spirituality, lands, and natural resources. The Declaration demonstrates how recognized human rights should be interpreted and applied in the indigenous context, and thus speeds and strengthens their crystallization into norms. This workshop examined the development of the Declaration and how tribes within the U.S. are using it to push for more expansive indigenous rights.
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Indigenous Representation in Political Systems
Representation is a core remedy for invisibility. This notably all-female panel explored the barriers facing indigenous women and political office, and the hope and tangible change that comes with piercing the representation ceiling.
Representatives from both state and national offices explored how their presence has impacted the offices they hold, and how, despite their constituency, they are called to represent all of Indian country.
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Alyssa Sanderson
(Seminole Nation of Oklahoma)
NALSA 1L Representative
J.D., Class of 2023
Alyssa Sanderson is an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Alyssa holds a B.A. in Sociology with an Emphasis in Law and Society from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). At UC Davis, she was a leader within the Native American student community, serving as the Vice President and Co-Founder of the Native American Pre-law Association. After graduating in 2019, Alyssa served as the Program Coordinator for the Aoki Center Critical Race and Nation Studies' Tribal Justice Project (TJP) at UC Davis School of Law. At TJP she worked on Tribal Court development and training for tribal judges, attorneys, and court
personnel. Alyssa’s areas of interest are Indian law, tribal justice, criminal
justice reform, and civil rights.
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Chloe Freeman (Lenni Lenape, Shawnee, and Cherokee)
NALSA 1L Representative
J.D., Class of 2023
Chloë Freeman is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and is of Lenni Lenape,
Shawnee, and Cherokee descent. She holds a B.F.A in Dance from San Diego State University. As a dance artist, Chloë has focused on bridging the worlds of social justice activism and movement. Her passion for liberatory movement modalities
led Chloë to Moving On Center School for Participatory Arts and Somatic Research, a training program linking somatics and the performing arts for social change. It was there that she received her certification in Somatic Education. In 2018, Chloë was hired at San Diego State University to co-teach Somatics and Social Justice, a practicable theory of social change that is grounded in a first-person experience of the human body. Chloë’s interests include racial
justice, decolonization, and embodied liberation, and she is currently pursuing a specialization in Critical Race Studies at UCLA School of Law.
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UCLA NALSA students had an event on October 13, 2020. The event celebrated Indigenous Peoples' Day.
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