Description
In the United States, the Indian tribe is a fundamental unit, and the constitution grants Congress the right to interact with tribes. More specifically, the Supreme Court of the United States in United States v. Sandoval, 231 U.S. 28 (1913), warned, "it is not... that Congress may bring a community or body of people within range of this power by arbitrarily calling them an Indian tribe, but only that in respect of distinctly Indian communities the questions whether, to what extent, and for what time they shall be recognized and dealt with as dependent tribes" (at 46). Federal tribal recognition grants to tribes the right to certain benefits, and is largely controlled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
While trying to determine which groups were eligible for federal recognition in the 1970s, government officials became acutely aware of the need for consistent procedures. To illustrate, several federally unrecognized tribes encountered obstacles in bringing land claims; United States v. Washington (1974) was a court case that affirmed the fishing treaty rights of Washington tribes; and other tribes demanded that the U.S. government recognize aboriginal titles. All the above culminated in the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, which legitimized tribal entities by legally restoring Native American self-determination.
In 1978 the BIA published final rules with procedures that groups had to meet to secure federal tribal acknowledgment. There are seven criteria. Four have proven troublesome for most groups to prove: long-standing historical community, outside identification as Indians, political authority, and descent from an historical tribe. While Congress and the federal courts can confer federal recognition, these avenues have been increasingly difficult since 1978. Most tribes have to submit detailed petitions to the BIA's Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA). On average it takes over ten years for a review of their petitions.
In August 2012 the United States' Federal Register issued a supplement titled "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs", which listed all 566 federally recognized tribes. The website USA.gov, the federal government's official web portal, also maintains a constantly updated list of tribal governments. Ancillary information present in former versions of this list but no longer contained in the current listing have been included here in italics print.
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