In celebration of Native American History Month, Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Keith Richotte Jr., author of the forthcoming book The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution and Matthew L.M. Fletcher, author of The Ghost Road: Anishinaabe Responses to Indian Hating to explore how Native American law has evolved from the Marshall Court to the present day—tracing how the Court came to grant the federal government broad authority over tribal affairs, and how tribes have begun to reassert their sovereignty under the Roberts Court.
This program was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on November 4, 2024.
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This episode was produced by Lana Ulrich, Tanaya Tauber, Samson Mostashari, and Bill Pollock. It was engineered by Greg Schekler and Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Samson Mostashari, Cooper Smith, Gyuha Lee, Matthew Spero, and Yara Daraiseh.
Participants
Keith Richotte, Jr. is the director of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program and professor of law at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. Richotte has served his tribal nation, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, as an associate justice on the appellate court since 2009 and also serves as the chief justice of the appellate court of the Spirit Lake Nation. He received his JD from the Minnesota Law School, his doctorate from the University of Minnesota, and his LL.M. from the IPLP Program.
Matthew L.M. Fletcher is the Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law at Michigan Law. He teaches and writes in the areas of federal Indian law, American Indian tribal law, Anishinaabe legal and political philosophy, constitutional law, federal courts, and legal ethics. He also sits as the chief justice of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. Rosen is also a professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. His most recent book is The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.
Additional Resources
- Keith Richotte Jr., The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution (2025)
- Matthew Fletcher, The Ghost Road: Ashinaabe Responses to Indian Hating (2020)
- Matthew Fletcher, “Muskrat Textualism,” Northwestern Law Review (2022)
- Matthew Fletcher, “The Dark Matter of Indian Law: The Duty of Protection” (June 2023)
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