Tribal Lands and Jurisdiction

The Indian Resources Section brings affirmative litigation to protect the almost 60 million acres of lands held in trust by the United States for Indian tribes and their members. Conflicts regarding whether certain lands are Indian country for adjudicatory and regulatory purposes have arisen in a number of contexts. For the Indian Resources Section defending tribal sovereignty is manifested through cases involving governance over resource management and land use. The Section’s work includes protecting the integrity of tribal reservation boundaries from diminishment or disestablishment of those boundaries and bringing trespass actions against non-Indians impinging on trust land without permission of the tribe or damaging such lands.