The heart of the article is uncovering the 200-year history of written tribal constitutions and how Native nations have used these foundational documents to continually assert their sovereignty, construct hybrid legal orders, and resist U.S. colonialism.

April 10, 2026 - 18:58 UTC

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But I also show how this history and bringing together the diversity of constitutional designs and purposes across Indian Country makes us rethink Native peoples’ impact on federal Indian law doctrine, what constitutions deserve attention in U.S. history, and what the standard features of…
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American constitutionalism are. Ultimately, I argue that tribal constitutions serve as a prism that refracts a range of possibilities for what constitutions can look like and be in the U.S. and in a post-colonial global legal order.
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