Professor Florey Publishes Op-ed on Supreme Court Tribal Jurisdiction Case

Professor Katherine Florey has published an op-ed in the Daily Journal regarding a pending U.S. Supreme Court case with important implications for the ability of Native American tribes to regulate the activities of nonmembers on reservations.

The case, Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, involves allegations that an employee of a Dollar General store operating on the Choctaw reservation molested a minor involved in the company's job training program. Because the employee is a nonmember, the tribe has no criminal jurisdiction over him, and the victim's only recourse was to file a civil suit in tribal court.  The company contends the tribe lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. Professor Florey provides an overview of precedents and asserts that the Court should rule that the tribe has jurisdiction.

"On many reservations, the misconduct of nonmembers, who have often lived side-by-side with tribe members for years or otherwise benefited from tribal services, is a growing problem that tribes lack the tools to address," writes Florey. "Here, the Supreme Court has a chance to correct that situation by affirming tribes' right to exercise that most fundamental of all sovereign attributes: the right to control what happens on one's own territory."

Katherine Florey is a Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law whose scholarship focuses on federal courts, choice of law, and civil procedure.