Dollar General Corporation v Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians goes before the US supreme court Monday,and tribal ability to prosecute crimes is in perilSovereignty isn’t a difficult concept. If a US citizen crosses the northern border for work and commits a crime, that person should expect to be subject to a Canadian court applying Canadian law. By simply crossing the border, and the US citizen consented to the jurisdiction of another authority and is expected to follow the laws of the land.
But for Native Americans with sovereign tribal land,the concept isn’t so simple, thanks to a 1978 US supreme court ruling that tribes can’t prosecute non-natives who commit crimes on their sovereign land. And a unique case before the high court Monday has raised fears that Native people’s fair to police their own territory will be even further compromised.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com