Tagrights

Alaska Native Hunting and Fishing Rights in a Changing Climate: Katie John, Sturgeon, and a Path Forward

Abstract Climate change creates a worldwide threat that is distributed unequally across the globe. Alaska Natives are uniquely vulnerable to climate change, both because it is impacting the Arctic more than other regions and because of the importance of traditional hunting and fishing practices to Alaska Native culture. The fact that climate change is impacting them so severely, however, is not...

The Wrongful Death of an Indian: A Tribe’s Right to Object to the Death Penalty

Abstract This Essay responds to the execution of Lezmond Mitchell, the only American Indian on federal death row.  The execution was carried out on August 26, 2020 over the objection of both members of the victims’ family and the Navajo Nation.  This Essay takes the clear position that because the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 requires tribal consent to seek the death penalty for murder, or...

Voter Identification and the Forgotten Civil Rights Amendment: Why the Court Should Revive the Twenty-Fourth Amendment

Abstract Since Reconstruction, states have passed laws to limit the power of those traditionally not permitted to vote (i.e. not white men). These barriers on the right to vote include, inter alia, the payment of poll taxes, which were often required months in advance of an election. In 1964, prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, three-quarters of the States...