Anthony Broadman: Tribal disenrollment makes Slade Gorton proud

For an Indian law attorney, few insults cut as deeply as a comparison to former Senator Slade Gorton. For decades the Washington State Republican lawmaker attacked Tribal sovereignty, at one point introducing legislation that would authorize civil actions against tribes in Federal and state courts.

So when such a comparison was recently made — i.e. that anti-disenrollment litigation essentially picks up where Gorton left off — I was impressed by its naiveté. The opposite is true. By proceeding recklessly with mass disenrollments and standing behind sovereign immunity even as to their own citizens, a handful of tribal governments are threatening the very existence of tribal sovereignty.

It is Tribes engaged in mass disenrollment efforts that threaten to complete Gorton’s work. What Gorton failed to achieve in Congress, membership-eliminating Tribes will achieve on the ground in Indian Country. Tribes will not be able to halve and quarter their memberships and maintain their position in the federalist structure. Tribes will not be able to violate their members’ human rights while Congress, in particular, sits idly by. They will create too many enemies. Critical race theorists posit that 19th Century federal policies of termination dovetail with the Tribal self-termination of the 21st Century. The argument might go that blood quantum in particular and membership ordinances in general will inherently destroy tribes — that the federal government will achieve through inter-marriage and tribal self-governance in enrollment practices what it couldn’t accomplish through Termination and the Dawes Act. Those arguments are as accurate as anything else in the sordid context of political disenrollment — TV shows included.