Constitutional · Travel
Right to Travel
Constitutional and international-law grounding of the right of a natural person to move freely, and how a Nation citizen asserts the right at a stop, checkpoint, or port of entry.
Executive
Office of the Chief
The Chief is the presiding sovereign head of the KiKiallus Nation. The Office of the Chief carries the Nation’s voice, oversees the International Tribal Council through its standing officers, and superintends the Nation Law Library — the public and citizen-facing research office that supports the Nation’s advocacy, its briefs on common issues, its historical archive, and its Meet / Match / Mediate service for citizens and the public.
Role of the Office
What the Office of the Chief does
The Office of the Chief operates at the intersection of sovereign authority and standing law. Its four working responsibilities are: overseeing the Nation’s international representation through the ITC, coordinating with the Allied Court and the Sovereign Oversight Board, superintending the Nation Law Library, and managing the intake for the Meet / Match / Mediate advocacy service.
The Chief may sign treaties and international agreements on the Nation’s behalf, subject to the Restated Tribal Council Charter (19 KIKIALLUS App.) and the International Tribal Council Charter (22 KIKIALLUS App.).
The Nation Law Library
A reading room for the Nation and its friends
The Nation Law Library is organized around four collections: briefs on common issues, historical and constitutional documents, Issues At — current items at issue (public summaries of motion practice packs and research records; source documents for Council members), and the legal advocacy service that turns research into representation. A public preview of each brief is open to everyone; constitutional archive documents, the full brief archive, and the deeper Federal Indian law commentary are open to Nation citizens signed in through the Council portal and to holders of a Law Library access pass.
Collection 1
Briefs on common issues
Starter briefs on the questions that come up most in the Nation's dockets and in its citizens' lives. Each brief has a public summary. Citizens signed in through the Council portal and pass-holders see the full brief with citations and templates.
Commercial · Identity
Lawful User Doctrine
The standing of a natural person to lawfully use property, roads, financial instruments, and public infrastructure without being converted into a commercial actor.
Federal Indian Law · Immunity
Sovereign Immunity
Tribal sovereign immunity — its scope, its recognized limits, waiver drafting, and the KiKiallus Nation's protocol for assertion through the Attorney General and the Allied Court.
Federal Indian Law · Children
Indian Child Welfare Act
ICWA jurisdiction, mandatory notice to the tribe, active efforts, placement preferences, and the Nation's coordination protocol with state ICWA units in the wake of Haaland v. Brackeen.
Additional briefs (Jurisdiction & Long-Arm, Treaty Rights, Entity Verification, Deed & Title Challenges, Licensing) are being prepared and will be added as they are filed with the Bureau of Recordation. .
Collection 2
Historical and constitutional documents
Two working shelves: the Federal Indian law canon — landmark statutes and Supreme Court decisions that define the modern legal position of Indian nations — and the historical constitutions shelf, into which the Nation adds constitutional and foundational documents as they are digitized. A sampling is public; the balance is available to signed-in citizens and pass-holders.
Shelf A · Federal Indian Law Canon
1823 · 1831 · 1832
The Marshall Trilogy
Johnson v. M'Intosh (1823) — discovery doctrine. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) — "domestic dependent nations." Worcester v. Georgia (1832) — tribes as distinct political communities.
Johnson v. M'Intosh (Cornell LII)
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (Cornell LII)
Worcester v. Georgia (Cornell LII)
1968
Indian Civil Rights Act
25 U.S.C. §§ 1301–1304. Codifies enumerated civil rights protections against tribal governments and, per Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, is enforceable primarily through tribal forums.
1978
Indian Child Welfare Act
25 U.S.C. §§ 1901–1963. Establishes minimum federal standards for removal and placement of Indian children and preserves tribal jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings.
1988
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
25 U.S.C. §§ 2701–2721. Framework for Class I, II, and III gaming on Indian lands and tribal-state compacting.
2020
McGirt v. Oklahoma
591 U.S. ___ (2020). Reaffirms that the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation was never disestablished by Congress; landmark decision on reservation boundaries and criminal jurisdiction.
2023
Haaland v. Brackeen
599 U.S. 255 (2023). Upheld the constitutionality of ICWA's placement preferences and tribal-court transfer provisions against Tenth Amendment and equal-protection challenges.
Further reading — gated
Additional canon reading (Public Law 280 · Oliphant · Bay Mills · Upper Skagit v. Lundgren · Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl · Cooley · Castro-Huerta), together with the Nation's own annotated commentary, is available to Nation citizens and pass-holders.
Further reading — annotated canon
- Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978) — tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians. Cornell LII
- Public Law 280, 67 Stat. 588 (1953) — mandatory and optional state criminal and civil jurisdiction over Indian country. 18 U.S.C. § 1162
- Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community, 572 U.S. 782 (2014) — tribal sovereign immunity extends to off-reservation commercial activity. Opinion PDF
- Upper Skagit Indian Tribe v. Lundgren, 138 S. Ct. 1649 (2018) — in-rem exception to tribal immunity remanded; directly relevant to Point Elliott Treaty geography. Opinion PDF
- Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U.S. 637 (2013) — ICWA construction. Opinion PDF
- United States v. Cooley, 593 U.S. ___ (2021) — inherent tribal authority to temporarily detain non-Indians on public rights-of-way. Opinion PDF
- Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, 597 U.S. ___ (2022) — concurrent state and federal jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country. Opinion PDF
Nation commentary on each is attached to the corresponding brief in the Bureau of Recordation archive.
Shelf B · Historical constitutions
Awaiting the Nation's upload
The Nation is preparing its historical constitutions shelf — foundational constitutional and legal instruments of interest, uploaded by the Office of the Chief and recorded with the Bureau of Recordation. When each document arrives, it will appear below with a public excerpt and, where appropriate, a full-text link for citizens and pass-holders.
Have a document you would like considered for the shelf? . The Office of the Chief reviews submissions with the Bureau of Recordation before adding them to the archive.
Sample · Council access
Point Elliott Treaty (1855)
Foundational treaty between the United States and the Duwamish, Suquamish, Sk-táhl-mish, Sam-áhmish, Smalh-kamish, Skope-áhmish, St-káh-mish, Snoqualmoo, Skai-wha-mish, N'Quentl-ma-mish, Sk-táh-le-jum, Stoluck-wha-mish, Sno-ho-mish, Skagit, Kik-i-allus, and other tribes and bands.
Sample · Public
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2007. The most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of Indigenous peoples and a working reference throughout Nation law.
Sample · Public
United States Constitution
Working reference for the Nation's engagement with federal and state constitutional questions. Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 (Indian Commerce Clause) is a recurring citation in the Nation's briefs.
Collection 3
Issues At — Current items at issue
A working shelf of matters the Office of the Chief is watching right now. These are motion practice packs, agency records, and research pulls tied to live questions before the Nation's counsel and its citizens. Summaries on this shelf are public; source documents are available to Council members through Council sign-in.
Colorado · Traffic / Right to Travel
Motion to Dismiss — Traffic Citation (Jefferson County)
Personam jurisdiction and due process challenge to a Colorado traffic citation, grounded in the distinction between regulated commerce upon the highways and non-commercial private travel. Companion to the Right to Travel brief.
Sample motion · Public · Requires modification for your court and facts
Colorado · Bail / Article II §§ 19–20
Motion to Dismiss / Exonerate — Cash-Only Bail (Mesa District)
Challenge to the imposition of a cash only bail as excessive and unauthorized under the Colorado Constitution, Article II §§ 19 and 20 — arguing that the term "sureties" cannot be read to mean only cash.
Sample motion · Public · Requires modification for your court and facts
Federal · Interior · FOIA Records
FOIA Case Logs — U.S. Department of the Interior (FY 2006–07)
Released FOIA case logs for the U.S. Department of the Interior covering 03-October-2006 through 20-October-2007. Useful for pattern research on Indian-affairs, land-management, and BIA-adjacent requests during the period.
Research record · Public · governmentattic.org release
See all current items at issue
The shelf grows as new matters are uploaded. Only the three newest items preview here; the full list lives on the Issues At page.