Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
Native American tribes are the original sovereign peoples of the lands that now comprise the United States, with histories, governments, and cultures that predate the founding of the nation by thousands of years. Long before European colonization, hundreds of distinct tribal nations exercised independent political authority over their territories. Although the United States entered hundreds of treaties recognizing tribes as distinct political entities, federal Indian policy evolved over time through periods of treaty-making, forced removal, allotment, assimilation, termination, and, since the 1970s, tribal self-determination. The legal relationship between tribes and the federal government is grounded in the U.S. Constitution, as well as treaties, federal statutes, and Supreme Court precedent. Today, federally recognized tribes retain inherent powers of self-government except where limited by Congress, and the federal government owes tribes a trust responsibility arising from treaties, statutes, and longstanding federal law. The United States Department of the Interior, acting primarily through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, administers much of this trust relationship by overseeing tribal governance, law enforcement, natural resource management, economic development, education, and the management of tribal trust lands and assets.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Kincaid C. Native American law explainer. Mich. B. J. 105, no. 8 (2026): 42-43.
Comments
Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2026, State Bar of Michigan.