Among the Bodies of Our Children: Using Amici Briefs to Analyze State Motivation in Indigenous Law Cases

After the US Supreme Court decision to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act, I ask the question: Do states use amici briefs to advance state rights and limit Native sovereignty in Indigenous cases, and if so, how? My State Imposition Theory suggests that state amici briefs submitted to the Court in Indian law cases aim to restrict Native sovereignty and advance state control over tribal lands, people, and resources. States view Native sovereignty as a threat to state sovereignty and impose their beliefs onto Indian law cases. Using a logit model followed by a structural topic model, I find state amici are the least likely to support the Native interest and consist of topics related to the advancement of state rights and limitation of Indigenous sovereignty. My findings contribute to Indigenous and judicial politics scholarship by providing a new approach to understanding the co-related topics of judicial behavior and colonialism.