ABSTRACT
The notion of an Indian "tribe" or "nation" is itself a legal fiction much the same as the idea that a corporation is a person. The shifting of the burden of proof to the defendant is highly unusual in American jurisprudence—and in the situation presented by the modern Indian land claims, wholly unnecessary, even on moral grounds. The Indian plaintiffs can hardly be considered as disadvantaged in the modern federal court. Attorneys for the Indians proceed with superficial simplicity evoking generally sympathetic public reactions. There were more legal fictions invented in the Supreme Court's Indian decisions of the 1830s. The relationship between the federal government and the Indians was then characterized as that between guardian and ward. Additionally, Indians have nearly monopolized the available anthropological and historical research expertise. There is something fundamentally wrong in the stance taken by the United States government.
