Native American Law: Tribal Court Decisions

Northwest Intertribal Court System: Tribal Court Appellate Opinions

• Under Browse, "Read First" > Potential Gaps and Supplements states: "NICS' appellate reporters include all opinions issued by the [T]ribal [C]ourts of [A]ppeal administered by NICS during those times that NICS actually administered those [C]ourts. Some of the [T]ribes with opinions published here may now or at various times in the past have administered their own [C]ourt of [A]ppeals that issued opinions published elsewhere or not at all."
• Supports browsing by volume and Boolean searches.  Notes a name (such as Tulalip) can be a search term.  Also offers "Advanced Search" features.

Southwest Intertribal Court of Appeals (SWITCA) Reporter (@ American Indian Law Center, Inc. (AILC))

• Current scope: vol. 1 (1990) -  vol. 30 (2019).
• Includes: Indexes by case name, appellate judge author, Court of origin and subject.  Also includes a digest of cases by Tribal Court of origin.

Tribal Court Decisions (@ Tribal Court Clearinghouse, a project of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute)

• Lists the Tribes that post some (or all) of their Tribal Court decisions here.
• Offers a main screen search box and an "Advanced" search feature.

Web component accompanying Professor Frank Pommersheim's book:

Frank Pommersheim, Tribal Justice: 25 Years as a Tribal Appellate Justice

• This LibGuide states: "Professor Pommersheim formerly served as Chief Justice for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals before retiring on December 31, 2021. He currently serves as Associate Justice for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals, Associate Justice for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Supreme Court, and Associate Justice for the Winnebago Supreme Court. In addition, he has served in the past as an Associate Justice for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Court of Appeals, Lower Sioux Indian Community Court of Appeals, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Supreme Court, Chief Justice for the Crow Creek Sioux Supreme Court, and the Grand Portage Chippewa Tribal Court of Appeals."
• This LibGuide includes: Opinion Catalogue; Opinions by Tribal Court; and Opinions by Subject Matter.

Westlaw (enter Westlaw username/password):

Tribal Cases includes this current content:

• Mashantucket Pequot Cases (coverage: "Begins with 1992.")
• Oklahoma Tribal Court Reports (coverage: "Begins with 1978.")

West's American Tribal Law Reporter (1997-2008)

• Thomson West describes dates of coverage for this historical Reporter as: vol 1 (1997-1998) - vol. 7 (2007-2008).  Thomson West states: "This product includes the full text of reported decisions of the appellate and supreme courts of several [T]ribal [N]ations, as well as decisions from various U.S. courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court that address issues relevant to [T]ribal law."  Log in to Westlaw and click here for coverage information.

HeinOnline:

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law (in HeinOnline) 

• Access tip: To access this database from a remote location, implement the BLS proxy server instructions for one web browser. Librarians recommend the proxy server instructions for Firefox browser.   
  • Feel free to contact library.lab@brooklaw.edu for help implementing the BLS proxy instructions.

Includes the historical Indian Law Reporter that digested/summarized recent court decisions and federal agency materials.  National Indian Law Library notes here that Indian Law Reporter began including [selected] Tribal Court opinions in vol. 10 (1983). 

• Indian Law Reporter (1974-2013) (includes a search feature and provides an Advanced Search Syntax User's Guide for searching HeinOnline's sources)
  • HeinOnline lists coverage for this historical Reporter as: vol. 1 (1974) - vol. 40 (2013).  Examination of the tables of contents shows that American Indian Lawyer Training Program published this Reporter. Page ii of the Introduction to issue 1 (Jan 1974) states the goal was "compiling and editing on a monthly basis all current developments in the field of Indian law."  This Introduction highlighted these "substantive" parts of each issue: Part II. Recent Court Decisions and Part III. Federal Administrative Materials. 

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• Indian Law Reporter: Tribal Court Cases Index (created and provided by National Indian Law Library, publicly accessible, includes a search feature and a subject area index)