Scholars of federal Indian law joined tribal representatives for a special two-day conference on federal Indian law at Boalt on November 17-18. The New Realism: The Next Generation of Scholarship in Federal Indian Law was sponsored by the law school and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). It was the first such conference of its kind in the country, according to Philip Frickey, Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of Law and conference organizer.
The program addressed a broad range of issues regarding research and policy in the area of federal Indian law, including the need for Indian law scholarship, data collection and research from tribal perspectives, public safety and criminal jurisdiction, tribal governance, taxation and economic development, and natural resources. The panels featured leading federal Indian law scholars and practitioners, and governing members of American Indian tribes, including the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.