Vine Deloria, Jr., a Standing Rock Sioux, has been active in Indian legal and political affairs for several
decades.
Wilkins, David E. : University of Minnesota
David E. Wilkins, a Lumbee, is Associate Professor of American Indian Studies and Political Science at the University
of Minnesota.
Review
"This book is unique in its thorough analysis of the entire Constitution as it relates to Indian tribes."
--Rebecca Tsosie, Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Indian Legal Program, Arizona State University
University of Texas Press Web Site, June, 2001
Summary
"Federal Indian law . . . is a loosely related collection of past and present acts of Congress, treaties
and agreements, executive orders, administrative rulings, and judicial opinions, connected only by the fact that
law in some form has been applied haphazardly to American Indians over the course of several centuries. . . . Indians
in their tribal relation and Indian tribes in their relation to the federal government hang suspended in a legal
wonderland."
In this book, two prominent scholars of American Indian law and politics undertake a full historical examination
of the relationship between Indians and the United States Constitution that explains the present state of confusion
and inconsistent application in U.S. Indian law. The authors examine all sections of the Constitution that explicitly
and implicitly apply to Indians and discuss how they have been interpreted and applied from the early republic
up to the present. They convincingly argue that the Constitution does not provide any legal rights for American
Indians and that the treaty-making process should govern relations between Indian nations and the federal government.