Native Nations, American Colonialism, and the U.S. Constitution

EVENT POSTPONED
Maggie Blackhawk will present on a larger project that aims at expanding on Native Nations, American Colonialism, and the US Constitution. She will touch on how federal Indian law breaks the black/white binary in US constitutional law by analyzing the interactions between the national government and Native Nations. Concepts such as separation of powers, the Treaty Clause, and executive power will be discussed. The Plenary Power Doctrine, which prevents the Supreme Court from intervening to defend the constitutional rights of Native Americans, and which comes out as a practice also linked to other political situations nowadays, will also be explored. Finally, Blackhawk will share how her positionality not only as a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, but also as a woman in academia, has shaped her path towards questioning "rights" and "equality" in US constitutional law. The discussion will open to how the work might be expanded into a book for a generalist audience of lawyers and non-lawyers alike.