October 10, 2000

Tribal Law and Governance Conference For more information on the conference, visit the Web site www.law.ku.edu/Tribal/2000.htm. Or call (785) 864-3925. Related articles KU professor nominated to National Humanities post Indigenous studies journal hot off the press Subscribe now to receive KU News by email

Contact: Robert Porter, Law School, (785) 864-9245.

Tribal law conference to reargue key 1886 court case

LAWRENCE - An 1886 U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing the federal government's trust responsibility for American Indians will be reargued during the fourth annual Tribal Law and Governance Conference Friday and Saturday, Oct. 13 and 14, at the University of Kansas.

United States vs. Kagama will be argued before a panel of American Indian tribal court judges, said Robert B. Porter, KU professor of law, director of KU's Tribal Law and Government Center, and chief justice of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri Supreme Court.

"The holding was that Congress has the power to legislate on behalf of Indians on the basis of a trust responsibility," Porter said. The decision was not based on constitutional authority, he said, but on the perceived dependent status of American Indians to the federal government.

The reargument will begin at 2 p.m. Oct. 14 at Green Hall on the KU campus. Keith Harper, attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, will present the argument for Kagama. Sean McCarthy, of the Minnesota attorney general's office, will argue for the United States.

During the reargument, Porter will serve as presiding justice of the American Indian Nations Supreme Court, which will include four other Indian Nation judges.

Also during the conference, papers will be presented by:
* John Borrows, professor of law, University of Toronto, and visiting professor at Arizona State University College of Law
* Stacy Leeds, assistant professor of law, University of North Dakota
* Carey N. Vicente, associate professor of sociology, Fort Lewis College, and chief judge, Saginaw Chippewa Tribe
* John Lavelle, associate professor of law, University of South Dakota
* Robert J. Lyttle, attorney for indigenous peoples
* Dale White, general counsel, Mohegan Tribe