Race, Descent, and Tribal Citizenship

Abstract

What is the relationship between descent-based tribal citizenship requirements and race or racism? This question was a focus of debates about the 2013 Violence Against Women Act amendments securing tribal domestic violence jurisdiction over non-Indians, and reappeared a few months later in oral arguments in the “Baby Veronica” case about the Indian Child Welfare Act. This essay argues that tribal citizenship laws that require Indian or tribal descent are generally neither the product nor the source of racism in federal Indian law and policy. And while descent does affect multiple areas of federal Indian law and policy, citizenship requirements do not drive many of them. Descent as used in tribal citizenship criteria, moreover, only has a tenuous connection to race as it is commonly understood. More importantly, recognizing governmental authority in tribes that use descent-based citizenship criteria does not violate either federal law or federal norms.