&nbdip;News From Indian Country - Obama says he’ll sign Tribal Law and Order Act&nbdip;
Now by no means is this actually institutionalizing a relationship of justice, mutual accommodation and non-domination (in the sense used by Iris Marion Young and Philip Pettit) but it certainly is a step in the right direction.
I'm pleased to see greater opportunities for the Indian nations to prosecute non-natives for crimes committed on native land. Hopefully this will help move us away from the virtual impunity that non-natives enjoy if they commit "major crimes"* against natives. It does not change the fact that native sovereignty remains undermined and rejected, despite occasional language to the contrary, but definitely an improvement over the existing mess of limited jurisdiction for the Indian nations and limited interest and attention by the US government.
I had heard that the Obama administration had been intending to push through some major reforms in Indian law, and this definitely counts as both major and positive.**
*They are indeed major crimes. The inverted commas is not intended to diminish the significance of the crime but rather to emphasize the awkward and unique nature of this legal category as it applies to Indian country.
** The health reform act also had some important sections for the provision of health care on the res, if I remember correctly.
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