Kevin K. Washburn

Felix Cohen, Anti-Semitism and American Indian Law

Felix Cohen and his work and legacy are discussed in several new books, including an important intellectual biography of Cohen by Dalia Tsuk Mitchell. Using the Mitchell biography as a starting point, this essay discusses an important episode in Cohens life, involving apparent anti-Semitism at the Department of Justice. Because the episode is not fully explored in this otherwise excellent biography, Cohen and his motivations in Indian law remain a mystery in some respects. The essay also discusses some of the paradoxes of Cohens key involvement in federal Indian policy and the contemporary importance of some of his legacies in American Indian law.

Testimony on the Regulation of Indian Gaming, United States Senate, Committee on Indian Affairs, 109th Congress, 1st Session (April 27, 2005)

Congress must shore up NIGC regulatory authority over Class III gaming, guard against regulatory capture in tribal regulatory commissions, and reconsider the legitimacy of federal oversight of tribal economic decision-making. Congress should give the NIGC greater authority over licensure of those involved in Indian gaming and circumscribe the federal role over tribal economic decisions.