Obama to sign Native law enforcement act Thursday, Minnesota law prof to attend
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 1:12 pm
- 6 Comments
Sarah Deer
The Tribal Law and Order Act will be signed into law by President Obama Thursday afternoon at 4:45 pm Eastern, according to one Minnesotan who’ll be present for it. Sarah Deer, an assistant professor at William Mitchell College of Law, has been invited to attend. A member of the the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, Deer coauthored Amnesty International’s 2007 report “Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Violence” (pdf).
“The federal government’s relationship with tribal governments, its obligations under treaty and law, and our values as a nation require that we do more to improve public safety in tribal communities,” Obama said in a statement after last Wednesday’s passage of the bill by the U.S. House. “And this Act will help us achieve that. It will strengthen the relationship between the federal government and tribal governments. It will improve our ability to work with tribal communities in the investigation and prosecution of crime, and it authorizes resources for tribes to fight crime more effectively.”
The Tribal Law and Order Act was passed as an amendment to HR 725 by a vote of 326-92. Minnesota’s entire congressional delegation voted for the measure, with one exception: Sixth Congressional District Republican Michele Bachmann. Bachmann’s office didn’t respond to the Minnesota Independent’s request for comment on her opposition.
6 Comments
Comment posted July 28, 2010 @ 1:21 pm
Wed or Thurs? Headline says one and the article says the other.
Comment posted July 28, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
Being an enrolled member of one of the poorest reservations in South Dakota, unlike Bachmann, I don’t have to concern myself with being called a racist when I say that this is not only a billion dollar waste of taxpayer money, but more importantly, probably an infringement on tribal sovereignty.
Comment posted July 28, 2010 @ 3:36 pm
It’s not your heritage but your gender that makes me question your take on this, Dennis.
Comment posted July 28, 2010 @ 3:44 pm
Look, Sherman, the fact that they had to tie this to HR 725, the “Indian Arts and Crafts Act” to get any support tells you that they knew it couldn’t stand on its own.
Ironically, I know several Indian artists who’ve benefited from the arts and crafts law by being protected against non-Indian artists passing their stuff off as “Native” to the tourists when it isn’t, which hurts the real Native artists in the pocket book.
This smells like someone needed an excuse to funnel some walking around money to the tribes to keep them motivated for election day.
Pingback posted July 21, 2011 @ 8:24 pm
[...] resources has yet to promulgate new standards for leases, trust management or native protections. While signing the Native American Law Enforcement Act, Obama said, government’s relationship with tribal governments, its obligations under treaty and law, and our [...]
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