Native American communities were elaborate consensus democracies, many of which had survived for generations because of careful attention to checking and balancing power.
Articles on Cherokee Nation
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The right is explicitly laid out in the same treaty that led to the Trail of Tears.
Wilma Mankiller’s groundbreaking tenure as chief of the Cherokee Nation introduced the US to the power of Indigenous women’s leadership.
For the past 50 years, the Supreme Court has issued rulings that narrow tribal rights while Congress has worked to expand them. A recent ruling struck yet another blow against Native sovereignty.
Local governments in Oklahoma are adapting to a 2020 Supreme Court ruling, but state officials have chosen a different path.
When the Cherokee Supreme Court ruled that tribal elected officials no longer had to be Cherokee “by blood,” it was the latest chapter in a long-running fight over who controls tribal citizenship.
The upcoming Supreme Court session will address notable cases about the rights of different groups. The cases go to the heart of how U.S. laws protect both individual and group rights.
President Trump hinted that he would defy a Supreme Court ruling recently, though he later yielded to its authority. Andrew Jackson – Trump’s hero – likewise challenged the rule of law in the 1830s.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor in History, Penn State
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Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Wayne State University
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Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, University of Connecticut
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Professor of American Civics, University of Tennessee
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Postdoctoral Scholar, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Arizona State University
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Professor of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill