Washington, the several hundred protesters repre-
senting some 90 Indian groups hold a rally near the
Washington Monument on July 25. The “Longest
Walk” will be AIM’s last national protest effort.
March 6
Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe determines
that tribal courts cannot try non-Indians.
David Oliphant, a non-Indian, assaults a Suquamish
police officer and is subsequently arrested by tribal
police. The case against him goes before the Supreme
Court, which finds that the Suquamish tribal court
cannot try Oliphant because he is a non-Indian.
The decision challenges the long-assumed right of
Indian nations to prosecute all people who commit
criminal acts within their borders. The ruling is con-
troversial, not only because it substantially weakens
Indian control over reservations, but also because it
challenges the very concept of Indian sovereignty.
March 22
United States v. Wheeler establishes that a
tribal and federal court can try the same
crime.
A man named Wheeler pleads guilty to disorderly con-
duct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor
in Navajo (Dineh) tribal court. After his conviction,
he is charged with rape for the same incident by a
federal court. In a subsequent lawsuit, United States
v. Wheeler, Wheeler’s lawyers allege that he is being
tried twice for the same crime, a violation of the U.S.
Constitution prohibition of double jeopardy. When
the case is presented before the Supreme Court, the
judges rule that because the United States and Indian
tribes are separate sovereignties, they may both pros-
ecute an accused criminal for the same crime.
April 17
Navajo (Dineh) protesters occupy oilfields in
Aneth, Utah.
A group of Navajo (Dineh) protest the behavior of
oil workers hired by four oil companies—Conoco,
Phillips, Superior Oil, and Texaco. They claim
they have used alcohol on the Navajo reservation
and have harassed Navajo women. The protesters
also demand that Indians be given preference in
hiring.April 19The California governor blocks Dennis
Banks’s extradition.
To escape imprisonment in South Dakota for
rioting and assault, American Indian Movement
leader Dennis Banks fled first to Oregon and then
to California (see entry for 1975). When South
Dakota governor Richard F. Kneip requests his
extradition, Jerry Brown, the governor of Califor-
nia, refuses, citing the undue hostility toward AIM
members in Kneip’s state. The California Supreme
Court upholds Brown’s decision.May 15Santa Clara v. Martinez confirms the
right of tribes to set criteria for
tribal membership.
In Santa Clara v. Martinez, the Santa Clara Pueblo
are sued by Julia Martinez, a tribal member who
wants to will her house to her daughters. The
Santa Clara tribal council declares that the children
cannot inherit property within the pueblo because
their father is a Navajo. Martinez and her supporters
counter that the council’s definition for tribal
membership disregards Pueblo tradition: The pol-
icy reflects the European practice of tracing ancestry
through the father’s line, not the Pueblo custom of
tracing it through the mother’s.
In the suit, Martinez maintains that the
Indian Civil Rights Act (see entry for APRIL 18,
1968) guarantees her daughters equal protection
under federal law. In a seven-to-one decision,
the Supreme Court, however, concludes that, as
sovereign governments, Indian tribes have the right
to determine for themselves their own criteria for
tribal membership.