63 J. Kan. Bar Assn. May, 21 (1994). KANSAS TRIBAL AUTHORITY.

• Author: Patti Slider

Kansas Bar Journals

Volume 63.

63 J. Kan. Bar Assn. May, 21 (1994).

KANSAS TRIBAL AUTHORITY

Journal of the Kansas Bar AssociationMay, 1994KANSAS TRIBAL AUTHORITYPatti SliderCopyright (c) 1994 by the Kansas Bar Association; Patti Slider

Kansas has four reservations and four tribes, all located in northeast Kansas. The Potawatomie Prairie Band, the Sac and Fox, the Kickapoo, and the Iowa. Two have court systems and one is preparing for one.

Prairie Band Potawatomies

The Prairie Band Potawatomie Reservation covers about 11 by 11 checkerboard square miles around Mayetta. It is checkerboard due probably to sales of land parcels during the days of allotment. There are about 4,000 members of the tribe.

According to Marilyn Brewer, Mayetta, court clerk for the Prairie Band Potawatomie Tribal District Court, their criminal code is in a state of development, but the court does regularly preside over juvenile and domestic matters. The court handles family relations cases including marriages, divorces, child custody and support cases. It also handles juvenile procedures including delinquents, child placements, and children in-need-of-care cases.

The funding for the court is from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Their district judge, The Hon. Gregory Bigler, is a licensed lawyer and is a member of the Sac and Fox tribe of Oklahoma, where he resides. He sets cases for review and commutes to the court in Mayetta as necessary.

If the parties in a case do not like Judge Bigler's decision, they can appeal. The Tribal Court of Appeals is served by three judges who reside in Wisconsin. Two of the judges are Potawatomies from Kansas and one is married to a Kansas Potawatomie.

About seven non-Indian lawyers are allowed to practice in the Tribal Court. They are admitted to the Indian Bar by presenting a petition to practice which is then ruled on by the court.

The Potawatomie Tribe does not have a jail on its reservation so they have an agreement with Jackson County, in which the reservation is located, to jail miscreants. There are four members of the tribal police force. Non-Indian offenders on the reservation are handled by filing a complaint against them.

Tribal courts and the Kansas judicial system cooperate as necessary. An example is in child placement cases. If an Indian child is up for adoption with a non-tribal family, the state court...