Sovereign Nations

Did you know that a defendant in a tribal court (i.e. a Native American who has been tried for a crime in his tribe's court) can be tried in a federal court for the same crime?

Did you know that because Native American tribes are considered sovereign nations, they are not always afforded the same rights under the Bill of Rights as American citizens, for example the right to legal representation?

I didn't know this, until I read the Wall Street Journal this afternoon. I just moved into a new house a couple weeks ago, and apparently whoever lived here previously subscribed, because we get it every day. At first I wasn't that interested, but I'm finding it's an engaging resource for not only what's going on in the world, or a recap of Bush's last speech, but informative articles relating to international and domestic issues of economy and law.

This particular article this evening is about the shortage of public defenders in tribal lands. What grabbed me the most about this article was its description of "parallel justice"--in that tribes essentially have their own legal system that is similar, but doesn't quite mirror the American legal system. Some aspects of this legal system the U.S. government funds, but there is a dire shortage of funding for public defenders.

I would link to the article, but you have to be a WSJ subscriber to read it online.
I found a few other interesting sites online relating to the subject.

Sovereignty: A Brief History in the Context of U.S. "Indian Law" by Peter d'Errico, of the Legal Studies Department of the University of Massachusetts.
The National Tribal Justice Resource Center