Blood Quantum Laws - Implementation

Implementation

Many Native American tribes continue to employ blood quantum in current tribal laws to determine who is eligible for membership or citizenship in the tribe or Native American nation. These often require a minimum degree of blood relationship and often an ancestor listed in a specific tribal census from the late 19th century or early 20th century. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, for example, require an ancestor listed in the 1924 Baker census and a minimum of 1/16 Cherokee blood inherited from their ancestor(s) on that roll. Meanwhile the Western Cherokee require applicants to descend from an ancestor in the 1906 Dawes roll (direct lineal ancestry), but the Cherokee Nation imposes no minimum blood quantum requirement. The United Keetoowah Band requires a minimum 1/4 blood quantum.

The Ute require a 5/8 blood quantum, the highest requirement of any U.S. tribe. The Miccosukee of Florida, the Mississippi Choctaw and the St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin all require one-half "tribal blood quantum", also a high percentage.

At the other end of the scale, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma requires only 1/16 documented heritage. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon require a combined minimum of 1/16 from any of a list of several Oregon indigenous peoples.

Some tribes, such as Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town and the Wyandotte Nation, require an unspecified amount of Indian ancestry (known as "lineal descendancy") documented by descent from a recognized member. Others require a specified degree of Indian ancestry but an unspecified share of ancestry from the ancestral tribe or tribes from which the modern tribal entity is derived, such as the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Many modern tribes are confederations of original tribal peoples joined into a single political entity.

Other tribes require a minimum blood degree only for tribal members born "off" (i.e. outside) the nominal reservation. This is a concept comparable to the legal principles of Jus soli and Jus sanguinis in the nationality laws of modern sovereign states.