M. Brent Leonhard on an Oliphant Fix

M. Brent Leonhard has posted his paper, “Closing a Gap in Indian Country Justice: Oliphant, Lara, and DOJ’s Proposed Fix,” on SSRN.

Here is the abstract:

This paper analyzes whether DOJ’s proposed legislative fix to allow tribes to prosecute limited non-Indian domestic violence crimes is legally permissible by closely analyzing the decisions in Oliphant and Lara. Given the closely circumscribed requirements for the exercise of such power, and past decisions of various justices, this article concludes that it is within Congress’ power to recognize the inherent power of tribes to prosecute non-Indians for domestic violence crimes against Indians.