Document Type
Article
Abstract
Native American tribes have long sought, but not always received, federal recognition as sovereign Indian Nations. Recognition confers substantial financial and legal benefits including access to federally funded health services, education and housing. Sovereign status allows tribes to pursue business activity. Tribal sovereignty, however, has significant limitations. The recognition process is costly, time-consuming, highly politicized, and often uncertain. Federal law enforcement and health services that should follow recognition are chronically underfunded. We examine the efforts of Indian tribes in California’s Monterey County to use the nonprofit corporation form to establish clear property rights to land. We interview key participants and hand collect documents of transactions between Indian tribes and private land trust entities to explore this process. We conclude that forming nonprofit corporations represents an efficient and socio-culturally attractive alternative or, at least, a complement, to federal tribal recognition in achieving key objectives of tribes, namely recovering land and autonomy.
DOI
https://www.doi.org/10.70657/SDLR.V71.I3.488
Recommended Citation
Stephen F. Diamond & Jennifer W. Kuan,
Innovative Sovereignty: California Tribes' Use of the Nonprofit Corporation,
71
S.D. L. Rev.
488
(2026).
Available at:
https://red.library.usd.edu/sdlrev/vol71/iss3/8