Title American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court : the Masking of Justice

Published Austin : University of Texas Press, 1997

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Description 1 online resource (421 pages) Contents American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court; Legal Masks, Legal Consciousness; The Era of De ning Tribes, Their Lands, and Their Sovereignty; The Era of Congressional Ascendancy over Tribes: 1886 1903; The Era of Myths : Citizenship, Nomadism, and Moral Progress; The Era of Judicial Backlash and Land Claims; The Era of the Imperial Judiciary; Removing the Masks; Cases Cited; Supreme Court Justices Authoring the Fifteen Opinions Analyzed; Notes; Glossary; References; Index Summary Annotation "Like the miner's canary, the Indian marks the shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere; and our treatment of Indians, even more than our treatment of other minorities, reflects the rise and fall in our democratic faith," wrote Felix S. Cohen, an early expert in Indian legal affairs. In this book, David Wilkins charts the "fall in our democratic faith" through fifteen landmark cases in which the Supreme Court significantly curtailed Indian rights. He offers compelling evidence that Supreme Court justices selectively used precedents and facts, both historical and contemporary, to arrive at decisions that have undermined tribal sovereignty, legitimated massive tribal land losses, sanctioned the diminishment of Indian religious rights, and curtailed other rights as well. These case studies--and their implications for all minority groups--make important and troubling reading at a time when the Supreme Court is at the vortex of political and moral developments that are redefining the nature of American government, transforming the relationship between the legal and political branches, and altering the very meaning of federalism Notes Print version record Subject United States. Supreme Court. SUBJECT United States. Supreme Court. fast (OCoLC)fst00529481 Subject Indians of North America -- Legal status, laws, etc. Justice, Administration of -- United States POLITICAL SCIENCE. American Government / Judicial Branch. Indians of North America -- Legal status, laws, etc. Justice, Administration of. United States. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780292799967 0292799969 9780292791091 0292791097

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