Oliphant v. Suquamish,
1978

This article examines the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Oliphant v. Suquamish, which held that tribes lack criminal jurisdiction over nonmembers—a ruling that was later extended to all non-Indians, thus racializing criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country. Situating the case within the longer history of federal Indian law, the article analyzes how the Court departed from earlier understandings of inherent tribal sovereignty and entrenched the doctrine of implicit divestiture. The ruling produced a jurisdictional regime in which tribes were prohibited from prosecuting non-Indian offenders, creating a climate of impunity that facilitates violence against Native women by non-Indian men. The entry concludes by examining partial restorations of tribal authority through the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. Although these reforms did not overturn Oliphant, they marked an important shift toward expanding tribal sovereignty and recognizing tribes’ authority to protect their communities.