Analyzes the Supreme Court's decision of the case Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, concerned with the power to tax non-Indians doing business on the reservation. (ERB)

While the criminal reform bill, S.1722m, has great potential for straightening out the jurisdictional morass on Indian reservations, it is evading the more controversial issues. After describing past difficulties in determining criminal jurisdiction on tribal lands, this article discusses needed reforms and what is missing in the new law.…

With the backing of America's wealthy citizenry, Joseph Dixon organized the 1913 Expedition of Citizenship in an effort to advance the acculturation of American Indians. Dixon's efforts were a melodramatic charade in which the Indians gained nothing but patriotic rituals, still practiced at tribal meetings and powwows. Too late, Dixon realized the…

Federal taxpayers may spend more, nominally, on each Indian than they do on other Americans, but the permanent benefits to reservation communities have been smaller. One-fifth of all spending maintains federal agencies. Funds that do reach reservations tend to be absorbed by tribal administration and unproductive employment. (ERB)