American Indian Lands
I do not claim a general interest in American Indians but rather an interest in their landownership, in particular how they were dispossessed of their land holdings and their attempts to regain them.
My research focuses on the history of landownership in the United States so, inevitably, I am interested how the United States government acquired the occupancy and use rights of American Indian bands via various treaties and then acquired a large proportion of the land in the reservations established for those bands
Such research leads to the way in which the various United States courts have dealt with American Indians
I have been involved in two federal court cases as an expert witness,
Mille Lacs Chippewa et al. v the State of Minnesota et al. was eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
United States, Bay Mills Indian Community, et al. v State of Michigan et al was settled before any trial took place.