"The sovereignty of Native nations depends upon reliable access to information by, for, and about tribal interests."
- Duane Champagne, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
The Access to Tribal Law Project (ATLP) is an initiative of the National Indian Law Library (NILL), part of the Native American Rights Fund. Our mission is to provide tribal leaders, legal practitioners, and the public with convenient access to current and accurate copies of tribal codes and constitutions to enhance the power of tribal courts and strengthen tribal sovereignty.
NILL began collecting the laws of Tribal Nations in 1988. The collection includes tribal constitutions, codes, ordinances, and resolutions from federally recognized Tribes. Much of the collection has been moved online to the Tribal Law Gateway, which serves as a comprehensive list of tribal laws. NILL’s goal is for the Gateway to provide access to accurate tribal law information for all federally recognized Tribes, in the format of the Tribe’s choosing. Tribal Nations always have the option to remove or change their laws included in the Tribal Law Gateway.
The benefits of including your tribe's laws in the Tribal Law Gateway include:
- Providing tribal citizens and people living in Indian Country easy access to the laws that are applicable to them.
- Promoting awareness of tribal law to raise respect for tribal law in non-tribal legal and policy decision-making.
- Enabling tribal leaders and their attorneys to review existing tribal law provisions to better develop tribal law separate from state and federal laws. By sharing laws and ideas, Tribal Nations can create laws that strengthen sovereignty and reflect traditional values.
- Allowing tribal court judges to look at other Tribes’ laws for guidance when their own Tribe’s law is silent—rather than looking to state or federal law.
- Promoting academic research with more tribal perspectives to raise awareness of and respect for tribal law outside of Indian Country.
If you have any questions, would like more information, or would like to join the Access to Tribal Law Project, contact the National Indian Law Library at 720-647-9919 or at TribalLaw@narf.org.
