Focus on Indian Law
Historic Appointment of Tribal Citizens in Biden Administration May Increase Tribal Participation in Federal Policymaking By Kirsten Matoy Carlson
Kirsten Matoy Carlson is a professor of law at Wayne State University. She is a leading authority on federal Indian law and legislation. Her interdisciplinary, empirical research focuses on legal advocacy and law reform, with particular attention on the various strategies used by Indian nations to reform federal Indian law and policy effectively. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Levin Center at Wayne Law. Carlson serves on the State Bar of Michigan Standing Committee on American Indian Law and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She earned a Ph.D. in political science and a J.D. from the University of Michigan and was a Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand. © 2022 Kirsten Carlson. All rights reserved.
American Indian and Alaska Native Nations have engaged with non-Indigenous governments since contact.1 As sovereign governments, they understand the importance of relationships with other governments, especially the United States. The impact of federal Indian laws and policies on tribal governments and American Indian and Alaska Native communities cannot be overstated. The federal government has historically constrained tribal sovereignty through policies of dispossession, assimilation, relocation, and termination.2 American Indian and Alaska Native Nations have used different strategies to influence the federal government over time. They have gone to war, engaged in treaty-making, petitioned Congress and the president, protested, occupied federal land, exercised treaty rights, litigated, or used various combinations of these strategies to protect their sovereignty and resist encroachments on their lands and rights.3 Tribal governments have a new source of access and influence in the Biden administration, as President Biden has appointed an unprecedented number of tribal citizens to positions within his administration.4 For the first time, tribal governments have representation across numerous departments and agencies in a presidential administration. Groups often gain influence and representation when members of their communities are elected or appointed to positions within the government, so the Biden administration may provide new advocacy opportunities for tribal governments.5 For the first time in U.S. history, tribal citizens will lead the U.S. government in its government-to-government relationship with American Indian and Alaska Native Nations. This leadership reflects the priorities established by the Biden administration to guide the federal-tribal relationship. These priorities include upholding the trust responsibility of the United States to tribal nations, strengthening the nation-to-nation relationship between the United States and Indian tribes, and working to empower
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tribal nations to govern their own communities and make their own decisions.6 President Biden’s appointment of tribal citizens to positions within the U.S. Departments of Interior, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Energy, and Transportation; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is part of his efforts to meet these priorities.7 Tribal citizens have never served in many of these posts in the past. Their appointments may give them influence over policies that tribal governments have sought to influence through diplomacy and lobbying8 but not as governmental insiders. Recent studies show that government officials frequently engage in advocacy and “comprise more than 40 percent of the advocacy universe.”9 As congressional staffers and advisors to the White House, tribal citizens have shaped transformative federal laws, including the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act10 and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.11 Tribal citizens may now similarly affect federal policy in new roles as executive branch officials. For the first time, tribal citizens hold several key leadership positions within the Department of the Interior.12 Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, made history when she became the first American Indian to lead the agency as the Secretary of the Interior.13 She will command an agency staffed with many tribal citizens. Larry Roberts, a well-respected lawyer and citizen of the Oneida Nation, served as chief of staff for the department from April to November 2021. Tribal citizens and experts in federal Indian law will represent the Department of the Interior legally.14 Former University of Washington law professor Robert Anderson, of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, has been appointed as the solicitor for the Department of the Interior.15 Three of his six deputy solicitors are also tribal citizens: • A nne Marie Bledsoe Downs, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, deputy solicitor for Indian affairs
