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1 Am. Indian L.J. 1 (2012)

handle is hein.journals/ailj1 and id is 1 raw text is: AMERICAN INDIAN LAW JOURNAL

TOWARD A NEW ERA OF AMERICAN INDIAN LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP:
AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY FOR THE AMERICAN INDIAN LAW JOURNAL
Matthew L.M. Fletcher*
The field of American Indian law is both incredibly old and new. It is old because
Indian law intruded on the deliberations of the Framers way back in 1787,1 and it is new
because there simply was no significant corpus of Indian law scholarship until the
1970s. American Indian law is a growing, dynamic field, subject to enormous complexity
and creativity. The founding of a new law journal dedicated to Indian law - Seattle
University School of Law's American Indian Law Journal - compels review of the
scholarly field of American Indian law.
Modern Indian law scholarship has passed through two distinct phases - the first
phase is one practicality dominated by the practitioners of the 1960s through the early
1980s.2 the second phase, which began in earnest in the late 1970s and is ongoing, is
dominated by scholars (many of whom continue to practice in the field on a limited
basis) who are critics of the doctrines of federal Indian law.3 The temporal framework
* Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law. Director, Indigenous Law and Policy
Center. Thanks to Wenona Singel, Kristen Carpenter, Kate Fort, and Angela Riley. Finally, thanks to Bree
Blackhorse and the other editors of the American Indian Law Journal for the kind invitation to publish this
essay. I am honored.
See Robert N. Clinton, The Proclamation of 1763: Colonial Prelude to Two Centuries of Federal-State
Conflict over the Management of Indian Affairs, 69 B.U. L. REV. 329 (1989)
2 My informal surveys of the most-cited Indian law articles of all-time includes numerous articles written by
practitioners from the first generation of Indian law specialists, many of whom (most?) became law
professors. E.g., Reid Peyton Chambers, Judicial Enforcement of the Federal Trust Responsibility to
Indians, 27 STAN. L. REV. 1213 (1975); David H. Getches, Conquering the Cultural Frontier: The New
Subjectivism of the Supreme Court in Indian Law, 84 CAL. L. REV. 1573 (1996); David H.
Getches, Beyond Indian Law: The Rehnquist Court's Pursuit of States' Rights, Color-Blind Justice, and
Mainstream Values, 86 MINN. L. REV. 267 (2001); Frank Pommersheim, The Crucible of Sovereignty:
Analyzing Issues of Tribal Jurisdiction, 31 ARIZ. L. REV. 329 (1989); Jack F. Trope & Walter R. Echo-
Hawk, The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act: Background and Legislative History,
24 ARIZ. ST. L. J. 35 (1992); Charles F. Wilkinson & John M. Volkman, Judicial Review of Indian Treaty
Abrogation: As Long as Water Flows, or Grass Grows Upon the Earth-How Long a Time is That?, 63
CAL. L. REV. 601 (1975); Charles F. Wilkinson & Eric R. Biggs, The Evolution of the Termination Policy, 5
AM. INDIAN L. REV. 139 (1977); Robert Yazzie, Life Comes from It: Navajo Justice Concepts, 24 N.M. L.
REV. 175 (1994). My studies are Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Top 25 Indian Law/Tribal Law Articles
(HeinOnline), Turtle Talk blog post, Aug. 9, 2011, available at
http://turtletalk.wordpress.com/2011 /08/09/top-25-most-cited-indian-lawtribal-law-articles-heinonline/;
Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Top 25 Most-Cited Federal Indian Law/Tribal Law Articles, Turtle Talk blog post,
Aug. 8, 2011, available at http://turtletalk.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/top-25-most-cited-federal-indian-
lawtribal-law-articles/.
3 E.g., ROBERT A. WILLIAMS, JR., SAVAGE ANXIETIES: THE INVENTION OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (2012);
ROBERT A. WILLIAMS, JR., LIKE A LOADED WEAPON: THE REHNQUIST COURT, INDIAN RIGHTS, AND THE LEGAL
HISTORY OF RACISM IN AMERICA (2005); ROBERT A. WILLIAMS, JR., LINKING ARMS TOGETHER: AMERICAN
INDIAN TREATY VISIONS OF LAW AND PEACE, 1600-1800 (1997); ROBERT A. WILLIAMS, JR., THE AMERICAN
INDIAN IN WESTERN LEGAL THOUGHT: THE DISCOURSES OF CONQUEST (1990); Milner S. Ball, Constitution,
Court, Indian Tribes, 1987 AM. B. FOUND. RES. J. 1; Russel Lawrence Barsh, Is There Any Indian Law

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