Comments sought on bill for tribal court decisions in California

Thursday, August 4, 2011  

The Administrative Office of the Courts in California is seeking comments on a proposed bill that would recognize tribal court decisions.

The bill would recognize tribal courts as a matter of comity, rather than full faith and credit. That means state courts can examine issues like due process and bias before accepting a tribal court decisoin.

“Due process questions can be reviewed by the state superior court in deciding whether to recognize the tribal court judgment,” attorney Tom Gede told Capitol Weekly. “This is reasonably well-written and well thought out, and provides pretty solid protections for a defendant in civil matters.”

The proposal came out of the Tribal Court & State Court Forum, a joint initiative of tribal and state court judges.

Get the Story:
Should California recognize tribes’ civil court rulings? (Capitol Weekly 8/4)

Tribal courts and state courts create coalition in California (5/25)