Indian Legal Clinic

Native American voters in Arizona have experienced a long history of discrimination. Until 1948, Arizona prevented Native American voters from exercising their right to vote based upon their status as Indians. Arizona used English literacy tests to further deny Native Americans the right to vote until the 1970s, when federal law prohibited the use of literacy tests. Since the 1970s, vote dilution, burdensome election laws and discriminatory policies have been used to suppress the Native vote. The Arizona Native Vote Election Protection Project was created to support Tribal communities and Tribal members in Arizona, to ensure access to the polls and to prevent voter suppression.

Explore Native Vote

Indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable to the adverse effects of extreme weather and climate events. As a result, climate change not only threatens the landscape, but also cultural identity. As climate catastrophes become increasingly more frequent, policy discussions must address climate impacts on cultural heritage and the imminent threat to Indigenous cultures. The Clinic works to ensure that Indigenous communities impacted by climate disruptions are considered and included in such policy discussions and hosted a conference to discuss climate threats and challenges faced by Indigenous communities. The Clinic published a report summarizing the conference proceedings and submitted comments to the Draft Fourth National Climate Assessment about incorporating cultural heritage in the discussion of climate.

The Clinic assisted the Alaska Institute for Justice and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in drafting a complaint to several United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous people in addressing climate-forced displacement.

• Summary of the Proceedings from Cultures Under Water: Climate Impacts on Tribal Cultural Heritage
• Cultures Under Water Conference Recordings
• The Impacts of Coastal Erosion on Tribal Cultural Heritage
• UN Complaint filed on behalf of the Rights of Indigenous People in Addressing Climate-Forced Displacement
• The Special Rapporteurs Response on September 15, 2020

Federal recognition is the federal government’s formal acknowledgement of a Tribe’s inherent sovereignty and nation-to-nation relationship. The modern emphasis on federal acknowledgment has resulted in such status operating as a prerequisite for protection of inherent rights and recognition of tribal sovereignty. The Bureau of Indian Affairs publishes a list of Tribes that it recognizes as having certain legal, regulatory, and financial rights and privileges. Historically, Tribes achieved federal recognition in one of three ways:

• Through the administrative Federal Acknowledgement Process established in 1978
• Through legislative (Congressional) authority
• Through court action

The federal recognition process is controversial, complex, slow and inconsistent.

Professor Ferguson-Bohnee has testified on the administrative recognition process, and the Clinic studies the federal recognition process, analyzes regulations, and regularly presents and produces reports on federal recognition. The Clinic hosted a conference focused solely on non-recognized Tribes, conducted a comprehensive survey of unrecognized tribes and submitted comments on proposed changes to the administrative process.

• Decolonizing the Mindset and Brochure
• Presentation to the Alliance of Colonial Era Tribes on March 10, 2021
• Federal Recognition Conference: Who Decides You're Real? Fixing the Federal Recognition Processes (Day 1 and Day 2)
• Precedent chart
• Supplemental Analysis to the Indian Legal Clinic's Testimony before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs' 2009 Oversight Hearing on Fixing the Federal Acknowledgment Process
• Declaration on the Exercise of Inherent Sovereignty and Cooperation
• Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: Oversight Hearing on Fixing the Federal Acknowledgment Process
• Comment on the Re-Petition Authorization Process Concerning Federal Acknowledgement of American Indian Tribes, September 2024

The Indian Legal Clinic has assisted several Tribes with estate planning and has assisted individual Indians with drafting wills and other estate planning documents. Student attorneys draft estate planning documents that are designed to comply with the provisions of the American Indian Probate Reform Act.

The last few years have highlighted the need for Indian wills, especially among elders. Each year, Clinic students draft wills for dozens of Tribal members.

The Indian Legal Clinic — Estate Planning is a six-week course for law students interested in representing Tribal members in the drafting and execution of Indian wills and health care powers of attorney. During the first five weeks of the course, students learn about statutes impacting estate planning in Indian Country; wills and health care powers of attorney that conform to these statutes; and client interviewing and client counseling skills. During the sixth (last) week of the course, students participate in a two-day (all day) estate planning clinic for a Tribal Nation that takes place on the Tribal Nation’s reservation. During the clinic, students meet individually with Tribal members to determine their estate planning wishes and then draft documents for the member’s review and execution.

Indian Legal Clinic – Estate Planning
Semester A and B sessions:

Applications open until filled.
Apply online to Indian Legal Clinic – Estate Planning.

Professor Patty Ferguson-Bohnee has testified before U.S. House and Senate committees and state committees on several occasions regarding important matters of Tribal sovereignty, including federal recognition and voting rights issues. Professor Ferguson-Bohnee appeared twice before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to provide additional perspective on the federal acknowledgment process for Indian Tribes. Clinic students have the opportunity to help research and draft the testimony. When feasible, students who assisted in drafting the testimony have the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to attend the hearing where the testimony was given.

Students and Fellows also draft and present testimony and reports. ILC students testified before the Native American Voting Rights Coalition at hearings in Phoenix and Tuba City, and Native Vote Fellow Blair Tarman presented testimony to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.

In 2015, the Indian Legal Clinic and the Arizona State Law Journal hosted a town hall and symposium on the School-to-Prison Pipeline in Indian Country. Papers from the symposium were published in the Arizona Law Journal. In 2016, the Indian Legal Clinic hosted a conference to discuss solutions being put into practice and how they are positively impacting juveniles who are disproportionately affected by the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

ASU/ABA Conference 2015:

• Webcast
• Special Volume of Arizona Law Journal from School-to-Prison Pipeline Conference (2016)
• ABA Task Force on Reversing the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Recommendations and Preliminary Report (2018)
• Resources

The Indian Legal Clinic has participated in complex and important matters before state, Tribal and federal courts. While in the Clinic, student attorneys have drafted briefs, prepared for oral arguments and appeared in state and Tribal forums. Student attorneys have drafted amicus briefs filed with the United States Court of Appeals as well as the United States Supreme Court.

• Amici Brief of Anthony Wounded Head, Sr., Ivan Starr, Oliver J. Semans, Sr., and Dan McCool with the Navajo Nation in Nw. Austin Mun. Util. Dist. No. One v. Holder, 557 U.S. 193 (2009) 
• Amicus Brief of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas in A.A. v. Needville, 611 F.3d 248 (5th Cir. 2010)
• Amici Brief of Leonard Gorman, Anthony Wounded Head, Sr., and Oliver J. Semans, Sr. with the Navajo Nation in Shelby Cnty., Ala. v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013) 
• Amicus Brief of the National Native American Bar Association in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U.S. 637 (2013)
• Amicus Brief of the National Congress of American Indians in Wandering Medicine et al v. McCullouch et al, No. 12-35926 (9th Cir. 2013)
• Amicus Brief of the Diné Hataałii Association, Inc. in Arizona v. Navajo Nation, No. 21-1484, 599 U.S. 555 (2023)
• Amicus Brief of the Native American Bar Association of Arizona in Matter of Guardianship of A.K., 557 P.3d 770 (App. 2024)
• Amicus Brief of the Gila River Indian Community in Fontes v. Lewis, CV-24-0251-T/AP, (Ariz. Oct. 25, 2024)
• Amicus Brief of the Navajo Nation in Am. Civil Liberties Union of Arizona v. Richer, CV-24-0263-SA, (Ariz. Nov. 10, 2024)

Success at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Indian Legal Clinic: The Indian Legal Clinic represented the appellants in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Case no. 21-35230, Newtok Vill. v. Patrick, 21 F.4th 608 (9th Cir. 2021)) in an appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska that involved defending tribal sovereignty from unlawful intrusion by federal courts. The Clinic successfully argued that federal courts lack jurisdiction to determine intra tribal disputes.

• Learn more about the case here.
• Read the 9th Circuit opinion.
• Watch the oral argument.