This post describes two land claims cases heard before the Supreme Court: FPC v. Tuscarora Indian Nation and County of Oneida v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York.
The Law Library of Congress highlights new titles concerning Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico for Hispanic Heritage Month.
This is a guest post by Francisco Macías, head of the Iberia/Rio Office Section in the African, Latin American, and Western European Division (ALAWE) of the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate. Francisco was formerly a senior legal information analyst in the Law Library of Congress. Born on September 12, 1931, in the port city of …
This July, the Indian Defense League of America (IDLA) and local community members will cross the border at Niagara Falls. This event is an annual celebration of the rights of all Indigenous peoples of North America to cross the border between Canada and the United States freely. Indigenous people lived, worked, and socialized throughout the …
Some of the founding fathers– Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton—met at a dinner party on June 20, 1790, to discuss options for the siting of the capital of the new Federal government. On July 16, 1790, the founders formally selected a spot on the Potomac River as the permanent capital (Washington, D.C.), after 10 years of siting …
The United States commemorates Constitution Day on September 17, the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787. Celebrations usually include readings and discussions of the history of the document and its writing and influences. Many say that the United States, one of the oldest continuous democracies in the world drew influence for …
On March 30, 2023, the Vatican issued a joint statement repudiating the “doctrine of discovery” and terra nullius. The doctrine of discovery was used as the legal foundation for taking the land of Indigenous people by Europeans, and for the establishment of residential schools; as Justice Marshall wrote, “The European governments asserted the exclusive right …
May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month, when the Law Library celebrates the accomplishments that Asian and Pacific Islander Americans have made to American history, society and law. Dr. Mabel Ping Hua Lee, a twentieth-century Chinese American economist, was also a suffragist and a women’s rights advocate who worked within the Chinese American community …