Little Bird, Southern Arapaho 1898
American Indian and Alaska Native tribes have existed for thousands of years. NARF’s foremost priority is to protect and secure continued tribal existence. NARF focuses on preserving tribes’ sovereignty — their political status and legal rights as governments. Tribal sovereignty pre-dates the existence of the United States of America and the United States recognizes tribal sovereignty in treaties, acts of Congress, Executive Orders, and court case law. NARF helps tribes maintain their longstanding government-to-government relationships with the United States, or, in the case of unrecognized or terminated tribes, to establish or re-establish such a relationship. NARF also helps tribes forge government-to-government relationships with state and local governments.
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Federal Recognition of Tribal Status
The existence of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes does not depend on a formal political or legal act by the United States government confirming the tribe’s existence. However, official federal acknowledgment of a tribe establishes tribal status for all federal purposes and institutionalizes a government-to-government relationship between the United States and the tribe. Over the years, NARF has successfully represented several tribes through the federal acknowledgment process, which can take decades and considerable expertise and resources. The process has been viewed by many as being broken, and only recently have there been major proposed changes to it.
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Tribal Sovereignty and Jurisdiction
Long before the United States became a country, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes were independent, self-governing peoples. The United States has recognized the inherent governmental authority of tribes, also known as tribal sovereignty. In exchange for the millions of acres of land that it acquired from tribes in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, the United States promised to protect tribal sovereignty. The United States continues to acknowledge that, because they are sovereigns, tribes still govern their own members and remaining territory. Also, because of tribal sovereignty, federal law generally precludes state governance or jurisdiction within tribal territory over tribe members and sometimes non-members.
With sovereignty, tribes can determine their own governments. They can determine their own membership. They can regulate issues such as real property, commerce and trade, domestic relations, criminal and civil conduct, and tax activities. Tribes can administer justice to enforce their regulatory laws. Tribes also have the power to exclude persons from tribal territory. While these exercises of tribal sovereignty or jurisdiction are often challenged, in general they have been upheld under federal law.
It is the core of NARF’s work to represent tribes in their exercises of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction, and to assist tribes in exercising their sovereignty and jurisdiction in new ways and areas. NARF’s tribal sovereignty efforts typically involve representing tribes either in court cases or in drafting legislation, governmental documents, or intergovernmental agreements with federal, state, and tribal governments.
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