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12 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 271 (2001)
Federal Recognition of Indian Tribes in the United States

handle is hein.journals/stanlp12 and id is 277 raw text is: Federal Recognition of Indian Tribes in the United States by Mark D. Myers I personally would like to speak for our tribe. We feel like we are twenty years behind times. We have not been able to take part in any programs or any type of program. Right now, we do not get the support we need. We are not asking for a handout. We just want to be recognized as Indians. -Lewis Barlow, Chief of the then-terminated Ottawa Tribe, before the United States Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, September 27, 197Z L INTRODUCTION In 1977 the American Indian Policy Review Commission (AIPRC) concluded that, of more than 400 tribes in the U.S., only Presently, the recognition process is widely misunderstood.. .as conferring legitimacy. Recognition is a certification and documentation process, not a transformative one; it is analogous to a citizen's obtaining a passport, not an alien's naturalization. Mark D. Myers, Cherokee, is a third-year J.D. candidate at Stanford Law School, where he co-chairs Stanford's chapter oj the Native American Law Students Association. Myers graduated with honors from Cambridge University in 1987 and in 1990 cum laude from Yale Divinity School. Beginning in August 2001, he will work as law clerk for the Hon. William J. Holloway, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. 289 were served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The remainder, whose members numbered more than 100,000, were members of 'unrecognized' tribes... excluded from the protection and privileges of the Federal-Indian legal relationship.1 Since that time, more Indian groups have laid claim to the right to be recognized as tribes, and the number of tribes and tribal members is growing. Many serious problems, however, plague the administration of the federal recognition process. The flawed application of the federal recognition process keeps acceptance and federal support out of reach for a number of deserving Indian tribes. While the benefits of federal recognition are sufficiently great to make the burdensome application process worthwhile, the uneven application of standards means that outcomes are often unpredictable. Moreover, there is a widespread misunderstanding of the process, shared by courts, government officials, and other tribes, that such a relationship with the United States government confers legitimacy on otherwise suspect groups. On the contrary, recognition does not change what a tribe in fact always was; rather, it offers groups one way to demonstrate that they ought to be treated as Indian tribes under the law. VOLUME 12:2 2000

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