#27: American Indian Law and the Supreme Court

In an era of sharp and often predictably partisan disagreements within the Supreme Court, it might surprise some that Neil Gorsuch, one of the court’s 6 conservative justices, has emerged as one of the fiercest proponents of tribal sovereignty to ever serve on the bench.

That fact doesn’t surprise Stetson Law Professor Grant Christensen, however. Christensen is a specialist in Federal Indian Law, the unique mixture of federal regulations and tribal sovereignty that governs the lands set aside for Native American communities within the states.

In this episode, we discuss the unexpected Supreme Court majorities that can emerge in Indian Law cases that test questions about federalism, recent decisions about the Indian Child Welfare Act and tribal lands in Oklahoma, and how indigenous legal traditions can propose models for reforming corporate governance.