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American Indian Law: Cases and Commentary

5th Edition
Robert T. Anderson | Sarah Krakoff | Monte Mills | Kevin K. Washburn
ISBN: 9781685612207
Subject: American Indian Law
Format: Print - Hardbound
Page Count: 1046
Copyright: 2026 | Status: In Stock
Other Formats Available

This casebook provides a comprehensive examination of the legal relationships between American Indian tribes, their citizens, the federal government, individual states, and others. The book reviews the European colonization process that is at the root of the federal-tribal relationship. The U.S. Supreme Court’s foundational cases are incorporated with statutory text, background material, hypothetical questions, and discussion problems to structure the classroom experience and enhance student engagement. History is critical to understanding American Indian law as it now exists and it is covered and explained to highlight how it shapes current law. The fifth edition includes expanded materials on law and order within Indian country, the Indian Child Welfare Act, water rights, Hawaii, and Alaska as well as recent Executive Branch actions that increase tribal authority. The authors update the book with a supplement after the end of the Supreme Court’s term every summer. There is a comprehensive Teacher’s Manual that provides help to the first-time Indian law professor, and additional color on the background of the field and material in the book.


Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: American Casebook Series
Publication Date: 12/15/2025

Robert T. Anderson, Washington

Sarah Krakoff, University of Colorado School of Law

Monte Mills, University of Washington School of Law

Kevin K. Washburn, University of CA-Berkeley School of Law

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This edition of the book includes updated cases, statutes, regulations, and analyses since the 2020 publication.

Professors Kevin Washburn and Monte Mills joined this edition as co-authors and editors. Professor Mills (formerly Professor and Co-Director of the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana) is the Director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington School of Law. Professor Washburn (formerly Dean at the University of Iowa School of Law and University of New Mexico) is now Professor of Law at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.

This edition of the book includes updated cases, statutes, regulations, and analyses since the 2020 publication. The Supreme Court continued to be very active in the Indian law field––handing down nine decisions, including momentous opinions related to Indian Country in Oklahoma and the Indian Child Welfare Act. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor have generally remained the Court’s stalwart scholars of Indian law, continuing their calls for a deeper understanding of the field’s historic context. Justice Clarence Thomas continues to write frequently, expressing his own lonely views. Meanwhile, recently appointed Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Amy Coney Barrett have demonstrated serious interest in the field. We include an updated graphic analysis of Indian law cases during the Roberts Court to help readers see the big picture. Federal and state appellate courts also decided many important cases across a range of issues critical to tribal interests, many of which are included in this edition. The Alaska materials reflect recent litigation regarding subsistence that appear headed to the Supreme Court. Finally, this edition is being published during unprecedented political and legal turmoil. We have attempted to capture the meaning and potential import of Supreme Court reversals of long-settled administrative law precedents, ongoing political gridlock in Congress, and efforts by the Executive Branch to significantly expand presidential powers.

Learn more about this series.