Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Keywords

tribal checkpoints, South Dakota, Kristi Noem, federal common law, Montana v. US, tribal sovereignty, pandemic, Covid, COVID-19, public health

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Conflict of Laws | Health Law and Policy | Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law | International Public Health | Jurisdiction | Other Public Health | Public Health | Public Law and Legal Theory

Abstract

This essay examines the question of whether, during a public health emergency, tribes located in a state that has adopted minimal protections to curb the pandemic may enact stronger protections for their own citizens and territories. May they do so, even when enforcement of these protections causes inconvenience to those simply passing through the reservations and when the regulations affect non-member residents of the reservations? Based on Supreme Court case law, the answer is yes—tribes are within their rights in adopting and enforcing regulations designed to protect their citizens and other reservation residents from a public health emergency.

Publication Title

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Share

COinS