Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries.
Although the United States Army Corps of Engineers has temporarily stopped work on the Dakota Access Pipeline that was planned to go through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, hundreds of protesters are still at the camp in North Dakota preparing for the next phase in the fight over the pipeline. In an email interview, Ron Whitener, the executive director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington, discusses Native American rights in the United States.
WPR: What is the legal status of Native American nations in the U.S., and what are the key issues facing American Indian communities?