[EL] Legal Treatment of Native American Tribes

[Smith, Brad]

Peter,
 
I doubt that Congress gave any "thought" to the treatment of tribes. After they wrote the law, it was left to others to interpret, and that simply seemed to be the soundest interpretation based on rules of statutory construction.
 
Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 E. Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
http://www.law.capital.edu/Faculty/Bios/bsmith.asp

________________________________

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu on behalf of PETER BRUSOE, BLOOMBERG BGOV: WASH
Sent: Thu 7/21/2011 12:08 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] Legal Treatment of Native American Tribes



Hello-

I was wondering if anyone on the list-serve had some background on the treatment of Native American Tribes as "individuals" for contribution limits.  I've reviewed AO 1978-51 and AO 1995-11 and it seems to also apply to partnerships and LLCs.

Does anyone know why Congress decided to treat these entities this way?

When a tribe donates is it something that the chief executive does on his or her own?

Does the donation need the approval of the governing council of the tribe? (This could be an interesting comparison with Boards of Directors approving corporate political activity)

Was there or is there concern about Native American Tribes attempting to curry favor with the Federal Government? (Tribes are in some respect sovereign nations, and we would not allow Germany or Pakistan to directly donate to our elections)

Thanks,
Peter



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********
Peter W. Brusoe
BGov Data Team
1101 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
PBrusoe at bloomberg.net
202.416.3464
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