Indian Civil Rights Act

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Indian Rights Act. This act gave Native Americans more protections under the United States Constitution and was similar to the Bill of Rights. The Indian Rights Act was controversial, and it is still discussed today. Why were people upset about this act? What was its impact? Let's look at those questions and more!

Indian Civil Rights Act Timeline

To understand the Indian Civil Rights Act's Impact, we need to understand how Indigenous sovereignty worked. According to Frances Paul Prucha, Native American sovereignty allowed the Indigenous nations to have specific roles outside the United States government. While Native Americans were citizens of the United States of America, they were also citizens of their tribes. Let's break that down even further.

Fig 1: Native American Territory in 1774 compared to their territory in 2022

Native American tribes could form their own governments within their territories. This meant that an Indigenous tribe could tax its members, create corporations, and determine who could and couldn't become a member. More importantly to the Indian Civil Rights Act, Indigenous nations could regulate their relationships with the United States government and were responsible for their own justice system. ¹

Indigenous tribes were able to enact justice for crimes committed in their territory when the people involved were members of the tribe. This excluded the seven major crimes. The seven major crimes are murder, arson, burglary, sexual assault, assault (to kill), manslaughter, and larceny.

Indian Civil Rights Act Summary

The American government heard the cases of Indigenous people who went through their tribe's justice system. These were cases that were mishandled. In some cases, it was negligence and in others the systems were corrupt. Even though some tribal justice systems failed, others ensured that people were brought to justice properly. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Indian Civil Rights Act to correct this. The act was similar to the Bill of Rights and gave Native Americans specific guaranteed rights.

Fig 2: Lyndon B Johnson with Native American Chiefs

Indian Civil Rights Act Definition

• Native Americans Have Freedom of/from:
  • Religion
  • Unlawful search and seizures
  • Prosecution of a crime that one has already been tried for
  • Testifying against oneself in court
  • Confiscation of property for use by the public without compensation
  • Rights to a fair trial
  • Excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments
  • Due process under the law
  • Entitled to a lawyer, if one can afford a lawyer
  • Trial by jury²

Under the Civil Rights Act, Native Americans had freedom of religion. There couldn't be unlawful search and seizures or prosecution for a crime that they were already prosecuted for. An Indigenous person couldn't testify against themselves in court or have their property taken for communal use without being paid for it.

Bail had to be a reasonable amount, and fees couldn't be higher than $5,000. Someone could only be imprisoned for a year, and they only receive a trial by jury if the crime was punishable by prison.

The Indian Civil Rights Act was different from the Bill of Rights for two reasons. An Indigenous person was only entitled to a lawyer if they could afford one. It wasn't the tribe's responsibility to provide a lawyer if the person couldn't afford one. Religion wasn't separated from the government. Native American judicial systems could be based on religious practices, but the individual members could practice whatever religion they chose.

Indian Civil Rights Act Impact

Fig 3: Indigenous Dancers

The goal of the Indian Civil Rights Act was to protect Indigenous people within their tribes and to hold their governments accountable. Another goal of the act was forced assimilation. By removing power from Indigenous governments, Native Americans would have to rely on the American government more. It understood the issues with the Native American judiciary system but didn't protect Indigenous people from the American government.¹

In Santa Clara Pueblo Vs. Martinez, the Supreme Court ruled that the American government couldn't control Indigenous governments. Though, the government could enforce the Indian Civil Rights Act. This meant that the government could directly interfere with the tribal judiciary system if it violated the act.

Many Indigenous people felt that this was another overstep by the United States government. They believed that the government shouldn't interfere with their traditional judiciary methods and that this was just another form of assimilation.

Indian Civil Rights Act Significance

The Indian Civil Rights Act changed the judiciary system for Native Americans. Before the act, Native American tribes had judiciary rights over the members of the tribe if they committed crimes on tribal territory against another member. After the act, Native American courts could still prosecute their members, but the members had different rights defined by the American government.

The American government could interfere with the courts if they didn't follow the new act. While some Native Americans approved of their new Bill of Rights, others thought it interfered too heavily with tribal sovereignty.