United States v. Lara: Affirmation of Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction over Nonmember Indians

Authors

Matthew L.M. Fletcher, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

On April 19, 2004, the United States Supreme Court decided United States v Lara, a landmark case in federal American-Indian law. Lara upheld the authority of American-Indian tribes to prosecute nonmember American Indians and held that such prosecutions do not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause because an American-Indian tribe is ‘‘acting in its capacity of a separate sovereign.’’ All Michigan tribes have significant numbers of nonmember American Indians—members of other American-Indian tribes and Canadian Indians—living in their Indian Country. The Lara decision clarifies an important area of law for the Michigan tribes—whether American-Indian tribes have inherent authority to prosecute nonmember American Indians.

Comments

Work published when author not on Michigan Law faculty.

Recommended Citation

Fletcher, Matthew. "United States v. Lara: Affirmation of Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction over Nonmember Indians." Michigan Bar Journal 83 (2004): 24-27. (Work published when author not on Michigan Law faculty.)