Issue 001 · May 10, 2026
The Native American Rights Fund released its 25-year retrospective on the Tribal Supreme Court Project this week, documenting a quarter century of coordinated advocacy before the nation's highest court on behalf of tribal sovereignty. The report is a useful reference document, and its timing alongside the new ICWA challenge is pointed: the Project exists precisely because the Supreme Court is not a neutral forum, and tribal nations need sustained, coordinated legal strategy to navigate it. Worth downloading for your files.
Issue 001 · May 10, 2026
Native News Online hosted a watch party and live commentary as former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland faced Sam Bregman in a New Mexico gubernatorial debate this week. The moment is worth noting beyond the horse-race framing: Haaland's candidacy represents a direct translation of federal Indian policy experience into state executive politics, and New Mexico's tribal nations have significant stakes in who governs. ICT's Pauly Denetclaw was among the commentators, which is the kind of Native-press-first framing this brief tries to privilege.
Issue 001 · May 10, 2026
The Native American Rights Fund published a clear-eyed explainer on tribal sovereignty and birthright citizenship, addressing the question of whether current legal debates about the Fourteenth Amendment affect the citizenship status of tribal members. The piece is careful to distinguish tribal citizenship from U.S. citizenship and to ground the analysis in the pre-constitutional existence of tribal nations. It is a useful resource for anyone navigating these questions in a policy or classroom context.
Issue 001 · May 10, 2026
High Country News published a reported piece this week on the 'Red Wind commune,' a case study in Indigenous identity fraud and the real harm it causes to Native communities, from diluted cultural authority to legal and financial exploitation. The piece is careful and does not sensationalize, which is the right approach to a story that can easily tip into spectacle. For Patty, who has spent a career insisting on the specificity of tribal citizenship and the difference between self-identification and belonging, this is a story with direct professional relevance.