Discussion Issues: Concurrent Session on Native Americans
Rebecca Tsosie, Arizona State University College of Law

1. What is the significance of the concept of "property" for Native peoples?

2. What federal laws and policies had the greatest impact on Native American lands and resources?

3. What is the continuing legacy of those laws and policies?

4. How does the concept of "public lands" continue to affect Native peoples?

5. How should we evaluate the principle of distributive justice given the historical context of the acquisition of Native lands and resources?

6. What is the relationship between property and sovereignty for Native American peoples? How is that relationship adjudicated within the federal system?

7. How are contemporary Native American interests in land and resources protected within the domestic legal system?

8. What are the implications of international human rights law for Native peoples? How are their interests in land and resources considered within the international human right framework.

9. What are the human costs (measured in terms of social and economic costs) of federal and state land policies? Are those costs borne proportionately by Native and non-Native people?

10. Does the "environmental justice" movement adequately respond to Native American interests? Should we recognize a concept of "cultural harm" as triggering legal or moral obligations to Native peoples?