The native American graves protection and repatriation act in its first decade

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAR Nafziger ◽  
RJ Dobkins
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Cultural Patrimony ◽  
Cultural Affiliation ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law

The global effort to protect indigenous heritage relies on national legislation. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of the United States provides one model for accomplishing a broad agenda of protective measures. NAGPRA confirms indigenous ownership of cultural items excavated or discovered on federal and tribal lands, criminalizes trafficking in indigenous human remains and cultural items, and establishes a process of repatriation of material to native groups. In implementing the law, questions related to cultural affiliation, culturally unidentifiable material, the status of native groups not recognized by the federal government, and the scope of a group's cultural patrimony have been particularly troublesome. A case study of the repatriation process highlights issues in implementing NAGPRA and benefits in fostering consultation and collaboration among native groups, museums, and federal agencies. Finally, the article considers the controversies that have come before a statutory review committee and the federal courts during NAGPRA's first decade. This experience demonstrates the limitations of formal dispute resolution as a means of developing and implementing the law.

Complex Legal Legacies: The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Scientific Study, and Kennewick Man

2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan B. Bruning
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Cultural Affiliation ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Anthropological Study ◽  
The Law

Debates over disposition options for an inadvertently discovered set of early Holocene human remains known as Kennewick Man have fueled discussions about the scientific, cultural, and ethical implications of the anthropological study of human remains. A high-profile lawsuit over Kennewick Man has led to the most extensive judicial analysis to date of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the primary law affecting access to, and the ultimate disposition of, ancient human remains found in the United States. However, despite years of litigation, some key questions remain unanswered. The judicial decisions in Kennewick address important questions about determining Native American status and assessing cultural affiliation under the law. However, the court opinions fail to address the role of scientific study within NAGPRA's confines. This article examines NAGPRA and concludes that two provisions in the law expressly permit the scientific study of human remains if certain conditions are met. Significantly, Kennewick Man might have qualified for study under NAGPRA even if found to be Native American and culturally affiliated with the claimant tribes, which would have enabled study to proceed from the outset while the parties debated the issues of Native American status and potential cultural affiliation.

Varied Responses to Human-Induced Seismicity in the City of Azle, Texas

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sarmistha R. Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Regulatory Policies ◽  
The Status

Fracking has helped to usher in an era of energy abundance in the United States. This advanced drilling procedure has helped the nation to attain the status of the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world, but some of its negative externalities, such as human-induced seismicity, can no longer be ignored. The occurrence of earthquakes in communities located at proximity to disposal wells with no prior history of seismicity has shocked residents and have caused damages to properties. It has evoked individuals’ resentment against the practice of injection of fracking’s wastewater under pressure into underground disposal wells. Though the oil and gas companies have denied the existence of a link between such a practice and earthquakes and the local and state governments have delayed their responses to the unforeseen seismic events, the issue has gained in prominence among researchers, affected community residents, and the media. This case study has offered a glimpse into the varied responses of stakeholders to human-induced seismicity in a small city in the state of Texas. It is evident from this case study that although individuals’ complaints and protests from a small community may not be successful in bringing about statewide changes in regulatory policies on disposal of fracking’s wastewater, they can add to the public pressure on the state government to do something to address the problem in a state that supports fracking.

Shale Resources, Parks Conservation, and Contested Public Lands in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park: Is Fracking Booming?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Miriam R. Aczel ◽  
Karen E. Makuch
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Theodore Roosevelt ◽  
Natural Beauty ◽  
Theodore Roosevelt National Park ◽  
Bakken Shale

This case study analyzes the potential impacts of weakening the National Park Service’s (NPS) “9B Regulations” enacted in 1978, which established a federal regulatory framework governing hydrocarbon rights and extraction to protect natural resources within the parks. We focus on potential risks to national parklands resulting from Executive Orders 13771—Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs [1]—and 13783—Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth [2]—and subsequent recent revisions and further deregulation. To establish context, we briefly overview the history of the United States NPS and other relevant federal agencies’ roles and responsibilities in protecting federal lands that have been set aside due to their value as areas of natural beauty or historical or cultural significance [3]. We present a case study of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) situated within the Bakken Shale Formation—a lucrative region of oil and gas deposits—to examine potential impacts if areas of TRNP, particularly areas designated as “wilderness,” are opened to resource extraction, or if the development in other areas of the Bakken near or adjacent to the park’s boundaries expands [4]. We have chosen TRNP because of its biodiversity and rich environmental resources and location in the hydrocarbon-rich Bakken Shale. We discuss where federal agencies’ responsibility for the protection of these lands for future generations and their responsibility for oversight of mineral and petroleum resources development by private contractors have the potential for conflict.

scholarly journals Discursive Strategies and Sequenced Institutional Change: The Case of Marriage Equality in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110205
Author(s):  
Giulia Mariani ◽  
Tània Verge
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Status ◽  
Private Actors

Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dynamics of gradual institutional change. Specifically, using marriage equality in the United States as a case study, we examine how actors’ ideational work enabled them to make use of the political and discursive opportunities afforded by multiple venues to legitimize the process of institutional change to take off sequentially through layering, displacement, and conversion. We also pay special attention to how the discursive strategies deployed by LGBT advocates, religious-conservative organizations and other private actors created new opportunities to influence policy debates and tip the scales to their preferred policy outcome. The sequential perspective adopted in this study allows problematizing traditional conceptualizations of which actors support or contest the status quo, as enduring oppositional dynamics lead them to perform both roles in subsequent phases of the institutional change process.

To Bury the Ancestors: A View of Nagpra

1994 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Stoffle ◽  
Michael Evans
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
American Indian ◽  
Native Hawaiian ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Cultural Patrimony ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Indian Tribes ◽  
The Law

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) became law on November 16, 1990. The law addresses the rights of lineal descendants and members of American Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian groups with respect to human remains and cultural items with which they are affiliated. NAGPRA is concerned with the human remains of Native American ancestors, material goods still associated with these bodies, material goods once associated with these bodies but now separated, objects of importance to ongoing religious practice, and objects of cultural patrimony. NAGPRA sets into motion a process of identification, consultation, and recommendation about these ancestors or ancestral materials.

The New Federal Arbitration Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 203-206
Author(s):  
Julius Henry Cohen ◽  
Kenneth Dayton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Commercial Activity ◽  
Business World ◽  
The Law ◽  
Federal Jurisdiction ◽  
And Control ◽  
At Will

This article focuses on the federal arbitration law. On February 12, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge signed the United States Arbitration Law, which became effective on January 1, 1926. This act reversed the hoary doctrine that agreements for arbitration are revocable at will and are unenforceable, and in the language of the statute itself, they are made “valid, enforceable and irrevocable” within the limits of federal jurisdiction. There are three evils which arbitration is intended to correct: (1) the long delay usually incident to a proceeding at law, in equity or in admiralty, especially in recent years in centers of commercial activity, where there has arisen great congestion of the court calendars; (2) the expense of litigation; and (3) the failure, through litigation, to reach a decision regarded as just when measured by the standards of the business world. The article then argues that the proposed law rests upon the constitutional provision by which Congress is authorized to establish and control inferior federal courts. It also contends that sound public policy demands specific enforcement of arbitration agreements by the law.

International Law in American Courts

2020 ◽  
pp. 145-178
Author(s):  
Gary Born
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Treatment ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
State Involvement ◽  
System P ◽  
The Status

This chapter looks at the grave flaws in the current treatment of international law in American courts. Both the status and content of public and private international law in the United States are uncertain, frequently governed by contradictory or parochial rules of State law; the resulting body of international law that is applied by U.S. courts is unpredictable and incoherent. Over the past fifty years, U.S. federal courts have also increasingly marginalized both international law and the role of American courts in resolving international disputes. This treatment of international law threatens serious damage to historic U.S. values and frustrates vitally important national policies. The chapter then considers how the current treatment of international law in American courts is also contrary to the U.S. Constitution’s allocation of authority over the nation’s foreign relations and international trade, which vests the federal government with both plenary and exclusive authority over U.S. foreign relations and commerce, while, exceptionally, forbidding State involvement in either field. Moreover, this treatment conflicts with vital national interests and policies in both fields, frustrating long-standing national interests in the nation’s compliance with international law and development of the international legal system.

Legal Realisms

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Holbo
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Henry James ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fourteenth Amendment ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
Helen Hunt Jackson ◽  
American Novel ◽  
The Law ◽  
American Society

U.S. historians have long considered the Civil War and its Reconstruction as a second American revolution. Literary scholars, however, have yet to show how fully these years revolutionized the American imagination. One marker of this was the postwar search for a “Great American Novel”—a novel fully adequate to the breadth and diversity of the United States in the era of the Fourteenth Amendment. The debate over what full representation would mean led to a thoroughgoing reconstruction of the meaning of “literature” for readers, writers, politics, and law. Legal Realisms examines the transformation of the idea of “realism” in literature and beyond in the face of uneven developments in the racial, ethnic, gender, and class structure of American society. The ideal of equality before the law conflicted with persistent inequality, and it was called into question by changing ideas about accurate representation and the value of cultural difference within the visual arts, philosophy, law, and political and moral theory. Offering provocative new readings of Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, Helen Hunt Jackson, Albion Tourgée, and others, Legal Realisms follows the novel through the worlds of California Native American removal and the Reconstruction-era South, of the Mississippi valley and the urban Northeast. It shows how incomplete emancipation haunted the celebratory pursuit of a literature of national equality and explores the way novelists’ representation of the difficulty of achieving equality before the law helped Americans articulate the need for a more robust concept of society.

THE RACIAL HISTORY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-241
Author(s):  
Heather Ann Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Incarceration Rate ◽  
Racial History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law

AbstractThe United States today has the highest incarceration rate, as well as the largest number of people living under correctional control more broadly (including probation and parole), than any other country on the globe. The size of the American criminal justice system is not only internationally unparalleled, but it is also historically unprecedented. This apparatus is also deeply racialized. African Americans, Latinos, and indigenous populations (Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Native American), are all represented in U. S. jails and prisons in numbers dramatically disproportionate to their representation in the population as a whole, and every non-White population is incarcerated at a rate far surpassing that of Whites. Notably, however, while the scale of today’s criminal justice system is unsurpassed and unprecedented, its severe racial disproportionality has always been a defining feature. Only by taking a close look at the long and deeply racialized history of the American criminal justice system, and more specifically at the regularly discriminatory application of the law as well as the consistent lack of equal justice under the law over time, can we fully understand not only why the American criminal justice system remains so unjust, but also why prison populations rose so dramatically when they did.

The Status of Cities under Recent Federal Legislation

1936 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1107-1114
Author(s):  
J. Kerwin Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Municipal Governments ◽  
Emergency Relief ◽  
Legislative Session ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Units

Final adjournment of the Seventy-fourth Congress, which like its immediate predecessors turned out a substantial grist of bills affecting cities, brought into focus once again the question of what is happening to our “sovereign states” and their political subdivisions. Federal contacts with cities are not, of course, an entirely new phenomenon in the United States. For a number of years prior to the depression, certain federal agencies had maintained informal contacts with municipal governments by offering them services, information, and advice, and such services are still being utilized. Until July, 1932, however, with the passage of the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, congressional statutes had never touched municipal governmental functions except indirectly through grants-in-aid to the states, the federal government had never entered into important contractual relations with cities, and Congress had never sat in legislative session to deal with the problems of cities as political units.

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