Indian law is rooted in two main concepts – first, that Indian tribes are sovereign entities with powers which predate the U.S. Constitution, including the inherent power to make their own laws and be governed by them, and second, that there is a political relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes which generally removes tribes from state jurisdiction.

The first concept seems obvious, as tribes have occupied North America since time immemorial. The second draws largely from the Constitution’s Indian Commerce Clause, giving Congress the sole power to regulate commerce with Indian tribes. As is true in other practice areas, case law has been the most significant factor in defining exactly how Indian law is built on these bedrock concepts. Beginning with a series of Supreme Court decisions in 1823-1832, commonly referred to as the “Marshall Trilogy” since they were principally authored by then Chief Justice John Marshall, case law has laid the foundations of Indian law – one key principle being that while Indian tribes retain certain aspects of their original sovereignty, Congress can abrogate that sovereignty unilaterally.

CILS participated in a special Working Group on the US Supreme Court's McGirt decision with a focus on extending PL 280 to Oklahoma. The Working Group is part of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and the University of Oklahoma’s Native Nations Center. 

Escondido Directing Attorney Mark Vezzola participated on a panel titled “The POWER Act: Promoting Pro Bono Legal Services to Empower Native American Survivors of Domestic Violence” on September 17, 2020, which was sponsored by the Federal District Court in Riverside County. There has been an outpour of private attorneys who attended that want to volunteer to do pro bono representation of DV victims in tribal court.  

Escondido Staff Attorney Mica Llerandi gave several estate planning presentations to Pechanga Members as part of their annual “Life Planning Course.” Escondido Directing Attorney Mark Vezzola supervised six ASU Law students as part of the two day will clinic that followed and prepared estate planning documents (powers of attorney, wills, and healthcare directives) for 13 members.

Eureka Advocate Laura Svoboda successfully expunged several criminal convictions through the State Court, allowing our client to keep her job. We were also successful in petitioning the Court to eliminate the remainder of fines owed to the Court (the client had paid $4,158, and the Court eliminated the remainder, $5447). Additionally, the client had several arrests that did not result in the District Attorney filing criminal charges. However, they still appeared on her RAP sheet (and she was asked to explain them by her tribal employer). We have petitioned the Humboldt County Sheriff to seal and destroy these records.

Bishop Staff Attorney Mike Godbe is addressing the affordable housing shortage in the Eastern Sierra and preventing numerous eviction cases under state and federal eviction moratorium protections. 

Mono Lake Indian Community

DV Pro Bono Lawyers in Tribal Courts

Eureka Directing Attorney Denise Bareilles is working on a Continuing Education (CE) program with two local tribes, Northern California Legal Services and Federal District Court for Northern District, which involves private attorneys interested in providing pro bono representation to victims of domestic violence in Tribal Courts in northern California where the Court has an active Domestic Violence calendars. The CE program will train private attorneys on representing tribal members in Tribal Court. Included in the program will be training on Civil Protection Orders, jurisdiction, and the two participating tribes’ plans for exercising tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians committing DV on their reservations.  

The Eureka Office is working with a local Tribe in developing its Court and is finalizing a bar exam for the Court. The project involved collecting historical tribal information. We uncovered old pleadings in our CILS database from the Tillie Hardwick case, which we were able to include in the bar exam. This documentation provided a valuable historical section on the bar exam and will be part of the Tribe’s archive.