Any NA students gotten accepted to schools yet? Forum

[A. Nony Mouse]

If they can call you NA, you get just as big of a bump and it doesn't matter how NA you are.

That's garbage. No way an eighth blood equals a full blood. Stupid liberals.

Individual nations determine their own membership - dat sovereignty - so if a nation says 1/8 is a member, then they're a member.

That's still doesn't make it good policy. Under that policy a bunch of people with little Indian blood can decide that having little indian blood is enough to be a member and get the benefits of membership like federal funds and scholarships and casinos.

Yeah, well, I disagree entirely that Indian sovereign nations shouldn't have the ability that any other sovereign nation has to determine who is or isn't a member of that nation, but going any further than that is getting into a debate on the merits of AA, which is inappropriate here.

[Docreviewsux]

Silly liberal arguments.

Indian tribes have limited sovereignty, much less than the Feds and even less than states. Check the case law. Congress can and should pass statutes regulating membership. In particular creating access to federal forums for when tribes play games with membership would be great.

What "sovereign nation" do you know that has to adhere to the laws of another like that?

[dr123]

Some tribes do 1/16 and some even 1/32. Why do you care what blood quantum they go with? Do you want tribes to die out or something bc that is likely what would happen if you had to be 100% to enroll in any tribe.

[northwestgirl]

Anyone who has taken Indian Law knows that the courts describe Indians as "domestic dependent nations", also known as quasi-sovereign nations. However, Indian tribes are still hold the internal power to govern its membership on its land. Ever heard of TLOA?
Yes, Docreviewsux, PLEASE read the case law. Here's a starting point:
Being Native can be considered a POLITICAL, not racial distinction. (Morton v. Mancari). Blood quontum is a Euro-American construction and not traditional - it has no bearing on tribal enrollment if the tribe doesn't want it to (some federal funding opportunities excluded).
Also, a federal court may not pass on the validity of an Indian tribe's ordinance denying (or granting) membership. Tribes have power to regulate their internal social relations. (Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez)

Would also love to talk about your concern over casinos and federal membership regulation. Perhaps we can start with the fact that 5% of Indian casinos (casinos, not different tribes) control almost 40% of the total revenue - and how you think that merits the federal government having control over the enrollment procedures of the over 565 tribes in this country.

I'm all about requiring tribal nation name + enrollment numbers to all law school applications (with the option of an addendum), but when we're talking about the sovereignty of our communities here, let's make sure we're telling the whole story.

That aside, a sincere "good luck" to all NA admits this cycle! Hope you consider taking Federal Indian Law.

[Docreviewsux]

Anyone who has taken Indian Law knows that the courts describe Indians as "domestic dependent nations", also known as quasi-sovereign nations. However, Indian tribes are still hold the internal power to govern its membership on its land. Ever heard of TLOA?
Yes, Docreviewsux, PLEASE read the case law. Here's a starting point:
Being Native can be considered a POLITICAL, not racial distinction. (Morton v. Mancari). Blood quontum is a Euro-American construction and not traditional - it has no bearing on tribal enrollment if the tribe doesn't want it to (some federal funding opportunities excluded).
Also, a federal court may not pass on the validity of an Indian tribe's ordinance denying (or granting) membership. Tribes have power to regulate their internal social relations. (Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez)

Would also love to talk about your concern over casinos and federal membership regulation. Perhaps we can start with the fact that 5% of Indian casinos (casinos, not different tribes) control almost 40% of the total revenue - and how you think that merits the federal government having control over the enrollment procedures of the over 565 tribes in this country.

I'm all about requiring tribal nation name + enrollment numbers to all law school applications (with the option of an addendum), but when we're talking about the sovereignty of our communities here, let's make sure we're telling the whole story.

That aside, a sincere "good luck" to all NA admits this cycle! Hope you consider taking Federal Indian Law.

Your "arguments" are irrelevant to the issue of whether the United States can modify membership procedures of these "sovereign" nations. I won't even get into how you misspelled quantum.

I would hate to have you as my atty.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Dude, it's not a debate; yes, Indian nations have limited sovereignty, but they still have the right to determine their own membership, based on the authority northwestgirl cited. Get over it. FWIW, tribes don't want "wanna be" members just looking for handouts any more than you do and it's actually pretty difficult to get membership in most tribes. There are a lot of issues with blood quantum but until you can document some significant problem whereby people* with no measurable relationship to tribes are somehow rolling in the dough from all the vast sums of money coming their way through a technical claim to NA ancestry, STFU. (Last I checked, having more money than they know what to do with is not really an issue for most Indian communities.)

*people = more than Elizabeth Warren

[elcee1987]

Agree, becoming a tribal member is actually pretty difficult with any tribe that has money, and many that don't. The Cherokee tribe is still pretty lax, but every tribe I know of that has casino or oil money either has closed their rolls or requires strict guidelines to be followed regarding blood quantum and sometimes cultural connection. Trust me, tribes don't like handing their money out any more than white people do. There are very, very few tribes that get money "from the government," and I've yet to receive a college scholarship "from the government" just for being Native. The scholarships I've received have come from private Native organizations.

[bk1]

No debating the merits of why 1/8 or 1/4 or 1/32 or whatever counts as NA or tribal status. Further failures to stay on topic in this thread will result in bans.

[anela00]

Thank you bk187.

[LaMuSayonga]

Thank you bk187.

[Trips_93]

Has anyone who applied heard back from plsi?

[anela00]

Has anyone who applied heard back from plsi?

Just that my application has been complete. I don't expect anything for at least another week since the deadline for supplemental materials is this Friday.