''In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided'' is a 2010 legal

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

book by Walter R. Echo-Hawk, a

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

of the Supreme Court of the Pawnee Nation, an adjunct professor of law at the

University of Tulsa College of Law The University of Tulsa College of Law is the law school of the private University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For 2021, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the University of Tulsa College of Law at No. 111 among all law schools in the United S ...

, and of counsel with

Crowe & Dunlevy Crowe & Dunlevy is an American law firm headquartered in Oklahoma. Founded in 1902, it is the second largest law firm in Oklahoma with offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Dallas, and is Oklahoma's second oldest law firm."The Journal Record", ...

Synopsis

The book draws from both well-known decisions of federal courts as well as less well known cases in explaining the doctrines of federal Indian law. The case of '' Johnson v. McIntosh'' by the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in 1823 is well known to most law students as declaring that Indian tribes had the right to occupy the land but only the United States held title to the land by right of discovery. It covers other major cases, including ''

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia ''Cherokee Nation v. Georgia'', 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831), was a United States Supreme Court case. The Cherokee Nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the U.S. state of Georgia depriving them of rights within its boundaries, but ...

'' (1831) (the tribe lacked standing to contest Georgia's violation of treaty rights), ''

Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock ''Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock'', 187 U.S. 553 (1903), was a United States Supreme Court case brought against the US government by the Kiowa chief Lone Wolf, who charged that Native American tribes under the Medicine Lodge Treaty had been defrauded of ...

'' (1903) (the U.S. had the right to confiscate Indian lands unilaterally despite treaty provisions); and '' Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States'' (1955) (discovery and conquest doctrines applied even when the Alaskan natives had separate dealings with Russia). The book covers cases involving the adoption of Indian children against the will of the tribes, leading to the Indian Child Welfare Act; decisions allowing the desecration of Indian graveyards and the display of Indians remains, leading to the

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law enacted on November 16, 1990. The Act requires federal agencies and institutions tha ...

; and cases on Indian religious practices, such as '' Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association'' (1988) and '' Employment Division v. Smith'' (1990). Echo-Hawk notes how federal Indian law was formed defining Indian rights and were then used, not as a shield to protect these rights, but instead to strip them away and harm Indian people.

Reviews

The book has received positive reviews from a good number of academic sources. Gilles Renaud of the

Ontario Court of Justice The Ontario Court of Justice is the provincial court of record for the Canadian province of Ontario. The court sits at more than 200 locations across the province and oversees matters relating to family law, criminal law, and provincial offenc ...

stated that the book's greatest contribution may be in explain to Native American people why they now possess so little land and have so many problems. Another review points out the injustice identified in the book and recommends that it be required reading at the

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, and

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law schools since those schools produce many Supreme Court justices. In addition, the book has received good reviews from the Native American community to western themed magazines. The legal community has also received it well, with one reviewer asking, "What if it is really true that the bundle of rights we have fought for through the 5th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were never intended by the “founders” to be applied to Native Americans?" The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

invited Echo-Hawk to participate in a symposium in part due to the impact of the book.

References

{{Native American rights Books about jurisprudence Books about United States legal history Works about Indigenous peoples in the United States 2010 non-fiction books Minority rights case law