Research Catalog

Title

Broken landscape : Indians, Indian tribes, and the constitution / Frank Pommersheim.

Author

Pommersheim, Frank.

Publication

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 414 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

Broken Landscape is a sweeping chronicle of Indian tribal sovereignty under the United States Constitution and the way that legal analysis and practice have interpreted and misinterpreted tribal sovereignty since the nation's founding. The Constitution formalized the relationship between Indian tribes and the United States government--a relationship forged through a long history of war and land usurpation--within a federal structure not mirrored in the traditions of tribal governance. Although the Constitution recognized the sovereignty of Indian nations, it did not safeguard tribes against the tides of national expansion and exploitation. As Broken Landscape demonstrates, the federal government has repeatedly failed to respect the Constitution's recognition of tribal sovereignty. Instead, it has favored excessive, unaccountable authority in its dealings with tribes. The Supreme Court has strayed from its Constitutional roots as well, consistently issuing decisions over two centuries that have bolstered federal power over the tribes. Frank Pommersheim, one of America's leading scholars in Indian tribal law, offers a novel and deeply researched synthesis of this legal history from colonial times to the present, confronting the failures of constitutional analysis in contemporary Indian law jurisprudence. Closing with a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would reaffirm tribal sovereignty, Pommersheim challenges us to finally accord Indian tribes and Indian people the respect and dignity that are their due.

Subject

• United States. Supreme Court > History
• Geschichte
• Geschichte
• Indians of North America > Legal status, laws, etc. > History
• Constitutional history > United States
• Indians of North America > Government relations
• Indians of North America > Politics and government
• Indians of North America > Civil rights > History
• Tribal government > United States
• Sovereignty

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [313]-405) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction: a new challenge to old assumptions -- Early contact: from colonial encounters to the Articles of Confederation -- Second opportunity: the structure and architecture of the constitution -- The Marshall trilogy: foundational but not fully constitutional? -- Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock: the birth of plenary power, incorporation, and an extra constitutional regime -- Elk v. Wilkins: exclusion, inclusion, and the ambiguities of citizenship -- Indian citizens and the First Amendment: the illusion of religious freedom? -- Indian law jurisprudence in the modern era: a common law approach without constitutional principle -- International law perspective: a new model of Indigenous nation sovereignty? -- Conclusion: imagination, translation, and constitutional convergence.

ISBN

9780195373066 (hardcover : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2008046841

OCLC

• 264027358
• SCSB-10212913

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library