Foundation Professor of Law Robert N. Clinton is scheduled to testify as a defense witness for the University of Colorado on Friday, March 20, at a civil trial in Denver about the discharge of a faculty member.

Clinton served as a member of a Special Investigatory Committee that looked into allegations of research misconduct involving Ward Churchill, a former professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In its report, issued in May 2006, the committee unanimously found that Churchill committed several forms of academic misconduct, including falsification, plagiarism, failure to comply with established standards regarding author names on publications and serious deviation from accepted practices in reporting results from research. To read the report, click here.
After numerous other proceedings, Churchill ultimately was discharged by the Colorado Board of Regents on an 8-1 vote.

Tsosie contributes to book on ‘Indigenous Rights’

Rebecca Tsosie Rebecca Tsosie, executive director of the Indian Legal Program, has contributed a paper on “Indigenous Treaty Rights: Sacred obligations, Intercultural Justice and the Discourse of Treaty Rights,” to a book, Indigenous Rights, that will be published by Ashgate in April.

“Throughout the world, indigenous rights have become increasingly prominent and controversial,” states the book’s description. “The recent adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the latest in a series of significant developments in the recognition of such rights across a range of jurisdictions.

“The papers in this collection address the most important philosophical and practical issues informing the discussion of indigenous rights over the past decade or so, at both the international and national levels. Its contributing authors comprise some of the most interesting and influential indigenous and non-indigenous thinkers presently writing on the topic.”

The book is edited by Anthony J. Connolly, of the Australian National University.

Bob Clinton contributed two essays to the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States: one on Marbury v. Madison and the other on Mandatory Jurisdiction.

Professor Clinton is now an Associate Justice for the Hualapai Tribe Court of Appeals. He also on the following courts: Chief Justice, Winnebago Supreme Court; Associate Justice, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals; and Associate Justice, Colorado River Indian Tribes Court of Appeal

I am pleased to announce that the Association of American Law schools has appointed Rebecca Tsosie to a three year term on the Association’s Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Teachers and Students. This is obviously an extraordinary important committee, and I think it helps the College of Law to have visibility within AALS. I am therefore grateful for Rebecca’s participation and I congratulate her on this honor.

Rebecca is being sworn in on Jan. 30 as a new Court of Appeals Judge for the San Carlos Tribal Court of Appeals, San Carlos Apache Tribe, San Carlos, Arizona. Congratulations Rebecca!

Professor Robert N. Clinton of the Indian Legal Program spoke on a panel, “One Country, Separate Sovereigns: Emerging Issues in Indian Law,” at the Appellate Judges Education Institute this weekend. The conference brought together federal and state appellate judges, appellate staff attorneys and appellate lawyers, was held at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort in Scottsdale on Nov. 13-16. Also on the panel with Clinton was Judge William Canby Jr. of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and a founding faculty member of the College of Law, Judge Joseph Thomas Flies-Away of the Hualapai Tribal Court, and Elizabeth Rosenbaum, an Indian law practitioner. The panel was moderated by Charles G. Cole of Steptoe & Johnson. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor spoke at the annual dinner on Nov. 15.

Professor Clinton will be presenting “The Return of Indian Treaty Making” at the University of Kansas on Friday, February 13, 2009. The 2008-2009 Tribal Law and Government Conference will focus on “Innovations in Tribal Governance”

Tsosie at ALA Conference
Rebecca Tsosie presented at the Cultural Heritage and Living Culture Conference in Washington DC. In November the American Library Association’s Office of Information Technology Policy hosted a thoroughly stimulating conference on Cultural Heritage and Living Culture: Defining the U.S. Library Position on Access and Protection of Traditional Cultural Expression. The conference aimed to discuss and debate the present and historical role of archives, libraries, and museums in preserving and providing access to the “traditional cultural expressions” (TCE) of indigenous people and traditional communities worldwide. The conference further aimed to begin forming ALA positions on TCE, including how the rights of native people in their own TCE interact with conventional Western concepts and codifications of intellectual property. ALA will be able to carry forth these positions to discussions with global organizations such as UNESCO and the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). WIPO’s Intergovermental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC), addresses protections for TCE, which affect and are affected by international copyright treaties and U.S. copyright law.

Tsosie at ITCA Conference
In October, Professor Tsosie presented at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona’s conference “Future Directions of Tribal Health Research in Arizona” on Intellectual Property and Cultural Property.

Clinton on panel at Appellate Judges Educational Institute

Robert N. Clinton Professor Robert N. Clinton of the Indian Legal Program will speak on a panel, “One Country, Separate Sovereigns: Emerging Issues in Indian Law,” at the Appellate Judges Education Institute this weekend. The conference, which brings together federal and state appellate judges, appellate staff attorneys and appellate lawyers, will be held at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort in Scottsdale on Nov. 13-16. Also on the panel with Clinton will be Judge William Canby Jr. of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and a founding faculty member of the College of Law, Judge Joseph Thomas Flies-Away of the Hualapai Tribal Court, and Elizabeth Rosenbaum, an Indian law practitioner. The panel will be moderated by Charles G. Cole of Steptoe & Johnson. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will speak at the annual dinner on Nov. 15. Clinton teaches and writes about federal Indian law, tribal law, and Native American history, constitutional law, federal courts, civil procedure and copyrights. He also serves as Chief Justice of the Winnebago Supreme Court, as Associate Justice of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals, as Associate Justice for the Colorado River Indian Tribes Court of Appeals, and the Hualapai Nation Court of Appeals, and as a temporary judge for other tribes.