Title: Indian Civil Rights Act Of 1968 | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: Indian Civil Rights Act (1968)
Indian Civil Rights Act (1968)
Indian Civil Rights Act (1968)
EVENTS LEADING TO THE ACT
TRIBAL CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Section 202 of the Indian Civil Rights Act
Section 203 of the Indian Civil Rights Act
Indian Civil Rights Act
INDIAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACT
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Content: U.S. Supreme Court decisions have given Congress power to limit the actions of tribal governments. However, the problem with meeting corrupt and dictatorial tribal governments head-on is that in order to assert rights against tribal governments, individual Indians would have to come to federal courts, and the empowerment of individual Indians comes at the expense of what is left of tribal sovereignty. These competing values (the value of clean government and the value of self-government without outside interference) led to the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-284, 82 Stat. 77), which is designed to accomplish clean government by applying parts of the Bill of Rights to Indians against their own governments but also minimizes outside interference by limiting the remedy for a violation to a writ of habeas corpus in case the conferred rights are denied. A writ of habeas corpus in this context is an order to bring the person who claims his or her rights have been denied to federal court to decide whether the person's rights have in fact been denied. If the denial of rights is proven, the federal court orders a release from custody (jail). TRIBAL CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES
The Indian Civil Rights Act does not allow a tribal member whose rights are violated to collect money damages against the tribal government. It does not even allow for an injunction (an order to quit violating the law). Because the only remedy is a writ of habeas corpus, a tribal member cannot even sue under the Indian Civil Rights Act unless he or she is being held in custody. One case decided under the Indian Civil Rights Act allows a writ of habeas corpus to challenge a banishment from the reservation.