Past Events
November 16, 2022 - Brackeen: Post-Oral Argument Panel Discussion
On November 9th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Haaland v. Brackeen, a case challenging the constitutionality of the child placement provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Congress passed ICWA in 1978 in response to an alarmingly high percentage of Native American children being placed in non-Native foster and adoptive homes and institutions. This virtual panel discussed issues presented in the oral arguments and the significance of the case.
November 14, 2022 - Rebecca Nagle Presents “We Still Here: Fighting Erasure Through Indigenous Storytelling”
Award-winning writer and advocate and citizen of the Cherokee Nation Rebecca Nagle visited Yale in conjunction with her Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. Nagle’s work on tribal sovereignty, Native rights and representation, and federal Indian law has been featured in the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, USA Today, Indian Country Today, and other prominent news outlets.
Nagle is also the writer and host of the “This Land” podcast, which won the 2020 American Mosaic Journalism Prize. The first season of the podcast covered Sharp v. Murphy, a Supreme Court case in which the court made a historic ruling on the reservation status of Eastern Oklahoma. The second and most recent season of the podcast covered Haaland v. Brackeen, a consolidated case before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Nagle’s “This Land” podcast is one example of how her investigative journalism makes issues related to Native rights and tribal sovereignty more accessible, even to those without a legal background.
November 2, 2022 - Indian Child Welfare Act Teach-in
On November 9th the Supreme Court held oral arguments in Haaland v. Brackeen. This two part teach-in highlighted the significance of the case, the historical context of the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the serious threat to Native children and families.
October 12, 2022 - Castro-Huerta: Jurisdictional Impact and Solutions
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta challenged the legitimacy of the Supreme Court by upending 200 years of precedent, congressional action, and historical practice regarding criminal law in Indian Country. Although the immediate impact of Castro-Huerta is quite narrow, the Court’s disregard for rule-of-law principles and its own judicial role in the case could foreshadow issues for federal Indian law in the future. This virtual panel discussed the significance of the ruling and how to move forward. Please see a video of the event here.
September 23, 2022 - Senator Dodson in Conversation with Professor Maggie Blackhawk
The NYU-Yale American Indian Sovereignty Project hosted Senator for Western Australia and Yawuru Elder Patrick Dodson at NYU Law School. The Sovereignty Project collaborated with both NYU and Yale Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) chapters on the event, and students from both institutions attended in person and by Zoom. The event included a discussion between NYU Law Professor Maggie Blackhawk and the Senator with contributions from NYU Law professors Meg Satterthwaite, Kevin Davis, and Vincent Southerland. Olivia Guarna, second year NYU Law student and a member of NYU NALSA, opened the discussion with an acknowledgement that NYU is located on the ancestral homelands of the Lenape people followed by an introduction of the senator.
Senator Dodson was in New York to represent Australia at the United Nations General Assembly. During his visit at the UN, he worked to explain and advance the Australian government’s commitment to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart. At the Sovereignty Project event, Senator Dodson engaged in a conversation with Professor Blackhawk about his role as Special Envoy for Reconciliation and the Implementation of the Uluru Statement, and distinct yet, at times, overlapping, challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in Australia and the United States.
June 19-24, 2022 - Institute for Constitutional Studies
On June 19–24, the Sovereignty Project hosted the annual Institute for Constitutional Studies at Yale, in partnership with the Institute for Constitutional History at the New-York Historical Society and the George Washington University Law School. The Institute for Constitutional History is the nation’s premier institute dedicated to ensuring that future generations of Americans understand the substance and historical development of the U.S. Constitution.
This year’s seminar, titled “Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the U.S Constitution,” brought together fourteen professionals from varied academic backgrounds to explore the historical and legal literature on the centrality of Native peoples to the U.S. Constitution and to the development of constitutional law. The interdisciplinary summer seminar aimed to assist participants—scholars and college instructors from across disciplines—in their scholarship and pedagogy.
The seminar began with a reflection on the erasure of Native peoples and American colonialism in the current literature in legal history, history, and law. Participants then turned to literature that aims to combat these erasures, engaging in discussions about building an American history that centers Native peoples and American colonialism. Examinations focused on whether a new history of the United States, inclusive of Native peoples and American colonialism, could shift broader approaches to constitutional and legal history. A commitment to building new collaborations and paradigms emerged from these spirited conversations. Throughout the week, Project staff offered supplemental presentations that examined the Project’s recent briefing and advocacy efforts, interinstitutional partnerships, and the Ho-Chunk Nation’s constitutional structures, as well as resources for legal history held in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on Yale’s campus.
Seminar leaders included Gregory Ablavsky, Professor of Law and History, Stanford University; Maggie Blackhawk, Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; and Ned Blackhawk, Professor of History and American Studies, Yale University. Participants included professors, assistant professors, graduate students, and attorneys.
May 11, 2022 - Opening Celebration: The 1491s Between Two Knees at the Yale Repertory Theatre
In May, the first play by intertribal sketch comedy troupe the 1491s premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre. With dark humor, Between Two Knees tells an intergenerational story spanning from the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre to the 1973 Wounded Knee Occupation. In celebration of the event, the Sovereignty Project hosted a community pizza truck dinner at Yale’s Native American Cultural Center, followed by a special viewing of the play’s dress rehearsal.
April 23, 2022 - Tribal Summit: ICWA and Its Impact on Tribal Communities
In April, co-director Maggie Blackhawk and research fellow Rebecca Plumage both spoke at the 2022 Tribal Summit: ICWA and Its Impact on Tribal Communities, hosted by Cornell and Yale Law School Native American Law Students Associations. Plumage spoke on the summit’s first panel, providing historical context for ICWA, while Blackhawk spoke on the second panel, titled “ICWA Today and its Future.”
April 19, 2022 - NALSA Launch Event: Emerging Indigenous Legal Issues Panel
In April, co-director Maggie Blackhawk and clinical fellow Amanda White L. Eagle spoke at the NYU Native American Law Students Association Launch Event, along with Ambassador Keith Harper, the Chair of Jenner & Block’s Native American Law Practice. Speakers and attendees connected virtually out of concern about COVID-19 cases. Despite these challenges, the panel provided an opportunity for the Sovereignty Project team to build relationships and valuable connections with NYU NALSA students. Indigenous students at NYU Law have worked tirelessly over the last year to revitalize their NALSA, and the Project was honored to be part of this inaugural event.