Federal Anti-Indian Law - by Peter P D'Errico

Book Synopsis

Telling the crucial and under-studied story of the U.S. legal doctrines that underpin the dispossession and domination of Indigenous peoples, this book enhances global Indigenous movements for self-determination.

In this wide-ranging historical study of federal Indian law-the field of U.S. law related to Native peoples-attorney and educator Peter P. d'Errico argues that the U.S. government's assertion of absolute prerogative and unlimited authority over Native peoples and their lands is actually a suspension of law.

Combining a deep theoretical analysis of the law with a historical examination of its roots in Christian civilization, d'Errico presents a close reading of foundational legal cases and raises the possibility of revoking the doctrine of domination. The book's larger context is the increasing frequency of Indigenous conflicts with nation-states around the world as ecological crises caused by industrial extraction impinge drastically on Indigenous peoples' existences. D'Errico rethinks the role of law in the global order-imagining an Indigenous nomos of the earth, an order arising from peoples and places rather than the existing hegemony of states.

Review Quotes

Many Americans have never heard of the Christian Doctrine of Discovery or understood how the federal government retains nearly unlimited authority over Native lands and nations. Professor d'Errico explains how, even today, Indigenous Peoples in the United States live under an 'exception' to U.S. law-an eye-opening revelation for many readers. Federal Anti-Indian Law is an accessible read that reveals the interplay of law with history and should not be limited to legal classrooms-it's an important and enlightening book for all people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike.
Robert Maxim II (Mashpee Wampanoag), Senior Research Associate, Brookings Institution

This book covers an enormous area of historical and modern-day federal Indian law, which the author calls ANTI-Indian law. Like an iconoclast in the truest sense of the word, d'Errico attacks the colonial foundations of Indian law and challenges professors, historians, Indian nations' leaders, and tribal attorneys to stop relying on Supreme Court case law that is built on disastrous premises and instead to resist and reverse these foundational principles.
Robert James Miller, Professor, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University

This work is a tour de force: provocative and overflowing with insights, examples, and thoughtful interpretations. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and practitioners.
Choice

About the Author

Peter P. d'Errico, JD (LLB), is professor emeritus of legal studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.