Title: Indian Civil Rights Act Resources on the Tribal Court Clearinghouse
Headings: 
Indian Civil Rights Act
What is the Indian Civil Rights Act?
Enforcement of ICRA
Books & Articles
Reports
Blogs & Other Resources

Content: equal rights for women on one side; a tribe’s rights to set membership criteria on the other side. The Supreme Court in Martinez never actually decided the merits of the case. It disposed of the case on a jurisdictional basis; that is, that the ICRA does not give federal courts broad jurisdiction to review tribal government actions in Indian country. Thus, Ms. Martinez’s challenge to the tribal ordinance could not go forward. In reaching this conclusion, the Court noted that there were two purposes that Congress had in mind in enacting the ICRA: Protection of individual civil rights in Indian country. It did this by prohibiting tribal governments from taking actions that might interfere with individual freedoms. Encouragement of tribal self-government.