Tribal Consultation: Toward Meaningful Collaboration with the Federal Government
One of the bedrock principles of federal Indian law is a centuries-old understanding that the tribes, as “domestic dependent nations,” have a “government-to-government” relationship with the federal government, which has a trust obligation concerning the tribes, their sovereignty, and their cultural resources. Although this relationship was first judicially articulated in the nineteenth century, it was interpreted to require federal “consultation” with the tribes under a series of executive orders beginning in the 1970s and the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”). However, this government-to-government consultation has Continue reading →