New Article: Matthew L. M. Fletcher, Uncomfortable Truths about Sovereignty and Wealth. SSRN Dec. 2021. Abstract below:
How wealth and sovereignty interact is both hotly contested and misunderstood. In my view, sovereignty exists to preserve wealth for the already-wealthy. When it comes to Indigenous peoples and Indian nations, federal and state sovereigns have almost always exercised their powers to suppress tribal wealth, even a half-century after Congress turned toward tribal self-determination as guiding national policy. Federal and state sovereignty used in this manner is evidence of systemic racism.
This paper is part of the Roger Williams Law Review symposium “An Uncomfortable Truth: Indigenous Communities and Law in New England.”
Poverty Law 