Supreme Court Makes Hash of U.S. Tribal Law

No area of the Supreme Court’s docket is more laden with contradictions than Indian law. On the one hand is the court’s well-intentioned impulse to protect Native Americans who’ve been victimized by centuries of injustice. On the other is the equally well-meaning aspiration to recognize tribal sovereignty. But these are competing values, so the justices frequently make a hash of it.

That happened in Monday’s decision allowing domestic-violence convictions in tribal court to count towards a federal felony conviction. On the surface, the result protects Native American victims of domestic violence and respects the validity of prior convictions. But underneath, the decision weakens constitutional protections for Native American defendants.