In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided [Hardcover]

Walter R. Echo-Hawk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2010

The fate of Native Americans has been dependent in large part upon the recognition and enforcement of their legal, political, property, and cultural rights as indigenous peoples by American courts. Most people think that the goal of the judiciary, and especially the US Supreme Court, is to achieve universal notions of truth and justice. In this in-depth examination, however, Walter Echo-Hawk reveals the troubling fact that American law has rendered legal the destruction of Native Americans and their culture.

Echo-Hawk analyzes ten cases that embody or expose the roots of injustice and highlight the use of nefarious legal doctrines. He delves into the dark side of the courts, calling for a paradigm shift in American legal thinking. Each case study includes historical, contemporary, and political context from a Native American perspective, and the case’s legacy on Native America. In the Courts of the Conqueror is a comprehensive history of Indian Country from a new and unique viewpoint. It is a vital contribution to American history.

Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) is of counsel to the Crowe & Dunlevy law firm of Oklahoma. As a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund for thirty-five years, he represented tribes and Native Americans on significant legal issues during the modern era of federal Indian law. In addition to litigation, he worked on major legislation, such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), and federal religious freedom legislation. He is a prolific writer whose books include the award-winning Battlefields and Burial Grounds.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A no-holds barred account that deserves wide distribution." —Library Journal and School Library Journal

"This weighty text serves as a 'tour of the dark side of the law.' Echo-Hawk, who spent more than three decades at the Native American Rights Fund, exhaustively deconstructs the racist and colonial foundations of federal Indian law. Written in a style that conveys a sense of outrage and passion, the cases highlighted are notable because they represent injustice as well as unfinished business." —CHOICE

"Echo-Hawk is methodical and elegant in the way he leads us through the history and case law which has brought us to this point." —News From Indian Country

“As evidenced by his book “In the Courts of the Conqueror,” Mr. Echo-Hawk’s experience, achievement, success and perhaps most importantly, his wisdom, not only serve as a touchstone for legal practitioners, but his work has left an indelible mark upon the lives of those who live and work in Indian Country and for every American who truly values the notion of justice.” —Oklahoma City Examiner

“Echo-Hawk’s book ought to retire the entire debate about judicial activism. It has become a conservative article of faith that judges should narrowly follow the law when deciding cases. But Echo-Hawk methodically picks apart that fiction.” —Mark Trahant, New West

About the Author

Walter Echo-Hawk has worked as a lawyer for the Native American Rights Fund for more than 35 years. He was instrumental in securing passage of two federal laws that respect Indian and religious freedoms and also the repatriation of Native American remains to Indian tribes. A prolific writer, his publications include an award-winning book BATTLEFIELDS AND BURIAL GROUNDS (1994).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Speaker's Corner (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936218011
• ISBN-13: 978-1936218011
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #505,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > Law > Administrative Law > Indigenous Peoples

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever January 18, 2011

By James Botsford

Format:Hardcover

THE 10 WORST INDIAN CASES EVER

By James Botsford

Finally someone has written a book that shines a light into the dark corners of the Supreme Court's thievery of the rights of Native America. Did you ever wonder by what quiet sleight-of-hand huge dimensions of the inherent rights and cultures of Native people disappeared or were radically reduced? Turns out some of the worst damage ever done to the original people came from the highest level of the judicial branch... the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court who historically have enjoyed (and cultivated) the perception that they are objective, neutral and above the fray of politics and ideology. Oh, if only it were true.

The book is In the Courts of the Conqueror, The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided. And this book isn't written by just any old someone. It was painstakingly researched and written by Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) who Vine Deloria Jr. once referred to as "the best Indian law attorney in America." Echo-Hawk earned his chops as a staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund for 35 years where he was personally involved in many of the biggest Indian rights issues of our time.

Echo-Hawk sets the bar high when it comes to intellectual honesty, cultural values and the ethics of legal analysis. From that perspective he walks us through what he believes are the ten worst Indian law cases ever decided. Scholars and activists will quibble over a few of his top ten (or is it bottom ten?), but they'll risk missing the bigger point, which is the devastation of these decisions as they change the course of history.

Echo-Hawk could've selected 20 such cases, but as it is this book weighs in at a hefty 470 pages, not counting notes. You'll get your money's worth out of this one.... The book looks thoughtfully at the context and circumstances from which these cases emerge and then gives a careful assessment of how the high court turns phrases and facts in such a way as to devastate the cultural integrity of Indian Country... well beyond the implications of the specific question before them.

To be fair one has to concede that the Court could not in all instances anticipate the scope of damage it inflicted, but as Echo-Hawk points out with clear reasoned logic there was no law or legal necessity that compelled the damage done by their decisions. In other cases, the case is solidly made that the Court is fully aware of the consequences of its decisions and actually manipulates facts and law to inflict those negative consequences anyway in order to protect other interests.

But perhaps the highest value of this thought provoking book is its intriguing analysis of what we might do to restore dignity to the legal relationship between the United States and the indigenous cultures and governments that share this country.

Is the First Amendment of any use at all to Indian people, or is it a danger to their survival? Is there any realistic hope that the U.S. will self-correct in Indian rights in a dignified way? Does the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People offer any realistic hope? If so, how could that come to be?
These are the issues and discussions that make this book so uniquely valuable. There is a long conversation that must happen, and Echo-Hawk knows it from the inside. That's why he has given us this truly important and urgent book, graciously written, as he winds down his career, to further us into that long conversation with a balanced historical assessment so that we, like he, can make this world better than the way we found it.

(The book is published by Fulcrum Publishing, 2010. James Botsford is an Indian rights attorney in Wisconsin who has co-counseled with Echo-Hawk numerous times in the past quarter century.) Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Must-Read! January 11, 2011

By Adam E. Stone

Format:Hardcover

Walter R. Echo-Hawk's In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided (Fulcrum Publishing, 2010) is an exceptional book, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Indian law, or social justice and human rights issues in general.

There are a number of good resources out there that succinctly provide the basics of Indian law, most notably American Indian Law in a Nutshell by William C. Canby, Jr., which is now in its 5th Edition.

But Echo-Hawk does much more than just lay out the basics: for each of the 10 cases he presents, he provides a historical and cultural context, as well as a systematic (and at times brutally frank) analysis of where the court in question went wrong, and possible reasons why. He does not shy away from the racism, ignorance, and hypocrisy that underlie the decisions he analyzes - to the contrary, he holds these shameful elements up to the light of day, with the hope they will no longer be rationalized or denied. From the early U.S. Supreme Court cases that justified the outright theft of Indian land, to more recent cases allowing, essentially, the theft of Indian children and the destruction of Indian holy places, Echo-Hawk calls into question the premises upon which the errant decisions are based and illustrates the flaws in reasoning that buttress the decisions. He shows how time and time again, the U.S. Supreme Court--an institution that ostensibly prides itself upon being "above" politics--in fact caved in to the political pressures surrounding each decision, be those pressures "the conquest and colonization of the continent during the era of Manifest Destiny" that led to the reprehensible removal of many eastern tribal nations, or the "patently racist notions of white supremacy" that led the Court, in Lone Wolf v.... Hitchcock, to fabricate, from whole cloth, the plenary-power doctrine.

Echo-Hawk also discusses how each case continues to resonate among the native people affected by it. In so doing, he brings a sense of urgency and modernity to even the oldest cases presented. For example, he discusses the lingering impact of the seminal U.S. Supreme Court case of Johnson v. M'Intosh, which "paved the way" for the destruction of the indigenous land base, the reclamation of which has become a top priority for many tribal nations today. He examines as well the unsettling legacy, and painful impact even at present, of war crimes committed by agents of the U.S. government at places like Sand Creek and Fort Robinson, crimes that have never been acknowledged, explained, or apologized for, by that government.

In the last section of the book, Echo-Hawk presents a plan for reforming what he calls "the dark side" of federal Indian law. He laments the disturbing trend, begun by the Rehnquist Court and apparently continued unabated by the Roberts Court, of ruling against native interests, despite any "discernible doctrinal footing" in the law for so ruling. He makes a cogent and compelling argument for the adoption by the United States of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and puts forward eight additional steps toward reform. These steps, if implemented, would lead to much-needed legal, political, and social improvements to native cultures and communities. The emphasis on healing and moving forward is an important component of Echo-Hawk's fine book, and all the more reason why anyone, native or non-native, who is interested in Indian law, native cultures, and human rights in general should read this book. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars White Man's Burden January 16, 2012

By Robert Yingst

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

White Mans burden?

By: Robert A. Yingst

It is difficult to read In the Courts of the Conqueror; The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided, without being conflicted, especially if you are white. Nevertheless, whether you are Indian, black or white you will be challenged if you read this book. I promise. Having been a white civil rights lawyer in what the author calls the Courts of the Conqueror, I found myself looking at Indian Country in a way which was both enlightening and promising, in spite of being constantly reminded of what the author calls the "darker side of Indian Law."
Attorney Walter R. Echo-Hawk gives lawyers especially, a challenging path as he asks the question - What if it is really true that the bundle of rights we have fought for through the 5th and 14th amendments in the U.S. Constitution were never intended by the "founders" to be applied to Native Americans?
Of the 10 worst cases, Echo-Hawk cites one case in particular for repudiation and rejection from future influence in the law - Johnson v. M'Intosh. A case which continues to define the contours of Indian Law. In 1955 the Supreme Court relying on M'Intosh in Tee-Hit-Ton v. United States takes it as a given that "savage tribes of the continent" were deprived of their land for "trinkets" by the "conqueror's will".
Johnson v. M'Intosh will live on to cause repeated wrongs in Indian Law unless this case is overturned and prevented from carrying future influence argues the the author. It must be overruled in the same way that Plessy v. Ferguson met its demise in Brown v. Board of Education, when segregation was rejected by the Supreme Court, says Echo-Hawk.
The author's approach in describing how we got to this point is artful and interesting to read.... It may be that some will chafe as he takes us through some awful times and places to show us that phrases like, "water under the bridge" are not enough to put this past behind us in any responsible way without addressing in the court.
The application of the First Amendment in Native American cases is one example he uses to argue that the Supreme Court does not really deal with Native American religion as religion. The Rehnquist Court was "not up to this task" he says and urges that Lyng v Northwest Indian Cemetery Association must be overturned. The high court failed to protect Indian holy places and produced a "cruelly surreal result" when it pronounced in the words of dissenting Justice Brennan: "Government action that will virtually destroy a religion is nevertheless deemed not to `burden' that religion." Lying is still the law of the land.
Echo-Hawk offers 8 specific reforms as he calls for a new generation of "legal warriors" who have the courage to "..row against the tide of prejudice, racism, dispossession, and oppression of vulnerable minorities."
Robert A. Yingst is a civil rights lawyer from Abrams, Wisconsin Read more ›