Alaska Tribal Sovereignty

Governor Palin opposes Alaska tribal sovereignty. Given past court rulings affirming the federally recognized tribal status of Alaska Native villages, Palin does not technically challenge that status. But Palin argues that Alaska Tribes have no authority to act as sovereigns, despite their recognition.

Regarding tribal sovereignty issues Palin has sought to block tribes from exercising any authority even over the welfare of Native children, adhering to a 2004 legal opinion issued by the former Murkowski Administration that no such jurisdiction exists (except when a state court transfers a matter to a tribal court).

Both the state courts and the federal courts have struck down Palin's policy of refusing to recognize the sovereign authority of Alaska Tribes to address issues involving Alaska Native children. Native Village of Tanana v. State of Alaska, 3AN-04-12194 CI (judgment entered Aug. 26, 2008) (Ak. Super. Ct.); Native Kaltag Tribal Council v. DHHS, No. 3:06-cv-00211- TMB (D. Ak.), pending on appeal No 08-35343 (9th Cir.)).

Palin's policy of refusing to recognize Alaska tribal sovereignty remains unchanged.

What is the term "sovereignty"?

There are at least 13 different overlapping meaning of the term sovereignty.
Sovereignty may refer to:

1. Sovereignty as a personalized monarch (real or ritualized);
2. Sovereignty as a symbol for absolute, unlimited control or power;
3. Sovereignty as a symbol of political legitimacy;
4. Sovereignty as a symbol of political authority;
5. Sovereignty as a symbol of self-determined, national independence;
6. Sovereignty as a symbol of governance and constitutional order;
7. Sovereignty as a criterion of jurisprudential validation of all law (grundnorm, rule of recognition, sovereign);
8. Sovereignty as a symbol of the juridical personality of Sovereign Equality;
9. Sovereignty as a symbol of "recogintion";
10. Sovereignty as a formal unit of legal system;
11. Sovereignty as symbol of powers, immunities, or privileges;
12. Sovereignty as a symbol of jurisdictional competence to make and/or apply law; and
13. Sovereignty as a symbol of basic governance competencies (constitutive process).

In regards to the Virginia Indian Tribes a historical basis of sovereign immunity doctrine in 1831, the United States Supreme Court first recognized that native Indian tribes possess sovereignty that is different from foreign countries and is subject to the dominion of the United States.

United States v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

With respect to International Law the character of sovereignty is changing.

Read "The Changing Character of Sovereignty in International Law and International Relations."
By Winston P. Nagan and Craig Hammer

International law is an avenue the Virginia Indians could pursue in their quest for Federal Sovereignty.