¹ Kim Coco Iwamoto is a 2000 graduate from the University of New Mexico, School of Law.

² Frank Cerno, Jr. is the Chief Judge at the Pueblo of Laguna.

³ See generally SHARON O’BRIEN, AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS 164 (Norman ed., U. Okla. Press 1989) (the Pueblo of Laguna is one of 19 Indian reservations clustered along the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico).

⁴ Interview with Chief Judge Frank Cerno, Jr., at the Laguna Pueblo Court (Dec. 10, 1999). See also O’BRIAN, supra note 1 (the traditional language of Laguna is Keresan).

⁵ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA ELDERLY CODE, § 2 (1993) (italics added for emphasis).

⁶ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2; see also PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. III, § 1 (“The Village of Laguna is, and shall continue to be, the Capital of the Pueblo of Laguna.”).

⁷ In the early 1600’s Spain invaded the pueblos and imposed a system of tribute and forced labor on the pueblos. The Spanish required the pueblos to establish a secular government headed by a governor who represented the pueblo in all dealings with Spanish officials. “The pueblos ‘accepted’ their imposed government – not as a replacement but as a means of shielding their traditional leaders and practices from Spanish view.” O’BRIEN, supra note 1, at 164.

⁸ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁹ Id.

¹⁰ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. Preamble.

¹¹ Id. art. III, § 2.

¹² Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

¹³ Id.

¹⁴ Id.; but cf. Donald Snow, The Spider Who Dreamed The World: A Mediation on Hierarchy, Humility, and Biodiversity, 4 HASTINGS W.-N.W. J. ENVTL. L. & POL’Y 43 (1997) (citing Laguna writer, Leslie Silko):

Leslie Silko, in her beautiful and brilliant essay, “Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination,” mentions the Spider Woman story. There are many versions of Spider Woman, but in this version, from Silko’s Laguna Pueblo, the female spider possesses the power of generative thought. She discovers that everything she can think of instantly comes into being. She begins by thinking up three new Thought Women to help her with her great task of dreaming up the universe. Right away, three new spiders burst into existence. Now we have the magic number four, and the four of them together dream up all of creation. And so the world as we know it comes not from some masculine, omnipotent and frequently cruel and perverse God, but from the minds of female spiders. Thought Women.

¹⁵ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2; but see Robert Laurence, Martinez, Oliphant and Federal Court Review of Tribal Activity Under the Indian Civil Rights Act, 10 CAMPBELL L. REV. 411, 438 n.15 (1988) (citing PAULA GUNN ALLEN, SACRED HOOP 41-44 (1986) (offering another perspective on the reasoning behind the history of male leadership in modern tribal politics)):

The conqueror has demanded that the tribes that wish federal recognition and protection institute ‘democracy,’ in which powerful officials are elected by majority vote. Until recently, these powerful officials were inevitably male and were elected mainly by nontraditionals, the traditionals being until recently unwilling to participate in a form of governance imposed upon them by right of conquest. . . . Now dependent on white institutions for survival, tribal systems can ill afford gynocracy when patriarchy – that is, survival – requires male dominance.

¹⁶ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

¹⁷ Id.

¹⁸ Id.

¹⁹ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. III (The Pueblo Council, Staff Officers and Settlements); Id. art. VI, §§ 1-5.

²⁰ Id. art. VI, §§ 3-4.

²¹ Id. art. VII, § 3 (emphasis added).

²² Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

²³ See Leslie Linthicum, Woman’s Election A Laguna 1^st, ALBUQUERQUE J., Dec. 29, 1998, at A1.

²⁴ See PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. VII, § 1(d).

²⁵ See Linthicum, supra note 21.

²⁶ See Id.

²⁷ Id.

²⁸ See PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. IV, § 2(u).

²⁹ See Id. art. III, § 2 (“The Governor, First Lieutenant Governor, Second Lieutenant Governor, Head Fiscale, First Fiscale, and Second Fiscal are the cane-bearing Staff Officers of the Pueblo and , as such, are vested with traditional governing authority.”); compare Id. art. III, § 3 (“The Secretary, Treasurer and Interpreter shall perform the administrative functions provided in Article VI, Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6. They shall also provide advice and assistance to Staff Officers, as required.”).

³⁰ See Linthicum, supra note 21.

³¹ Compare Eric Henderson, Ancestry And Casino Dollars In The Formation Of Tribal Identity, 4 RACE & ETHNIC ANCESTRY L.J. 7, 24 n.90 (1998) (“In the 1870s the Keresan Pueblo of Laguna had incorporated at least two Anglo-American men who had married Laguna women. One, Walter Marmon, later became Pueblo Governor.” (citing Edward H. Spicer, Cycles of Conquest 177 (1962))).

³² See PUEBLO OF LAGUNA MAYORDOMOS’ ORDINANCE (1978).

³³ See Id. §§ 1-5.

³⁴ See Id. §§ 7-10.

³⁵ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

³⁶ Id.

³⁷ Id. see also PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. IX, § 3 (“Assignments shall be approved by the Pueblo Council in the manner and subject to the terms and conditions provided in such ordinances. The assignment procedures shall include the approval by appropriate village officials . . .”).

³⁸ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2; see also PUEBLO OF LAGUNA MAYORDOMOS’ ORDINANCE §§ 1(g) and 8(a).

³⁹ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁴⁰ Id.

⁴¹ Id.

⁴² Id.

⁴³ Id.

⁴⁴ Id.

⁴⁵ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁴⁶ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA FAMILY PROTECTION CODE, ch. 1, § 102 (1998).

⁴⁷ Id.

⁴⁸ News Release from U.S. Department of Justice, Vice President Gore Announces Native American Tribes to Receive $4.9 Million to Combat Violence Against Women (June 15, 1998).

⁴⁹ Id.

⁵⁰ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁵¹ Id.

⁵² Id.

⁵³ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. V, § 5.

⁵⁴ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁵⁵ William Bluehouse Johnson, Lecture at the University of New Mexico School of Law in Law of Indigenous Peoples Class (Nov. 11, 1999).

⁵⁶ Id.

⁵⁷ Id.

⁵⁸ Id.

⁵⁹ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁶⁰ Id.

⁶¹ Id.

⁶² Id.

⁶³ Id.

⁶⁴ Id.

⁶⁵ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁶⁶ See PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. V, § 6.

⁶⁷ See PUEBLO OF LAGUNA LAW AND ORDER CODE, ch. 1, § 3(b)(1) (1968).

⁶⁸ See Id. at ch.1, § 3(b)(7).

⁶⁹ See Id. at ch.1, § 3(b)(4).

⁷⁰ See Id. at ch.1, § 3(b)(5).

⁷¹ Id. at ch.1, § 3(b)(7).

⁷² Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁷³ Id.

⁷⁴ Id.

⁷⁵ Interview with Associate Judge Marsha Green, at the Pueblo of Laguna Courts (Nov. 18, 1999).

⁷⁶ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁷⁷ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA LAW AND ORDER CODE, ch. 1, § 4 (emphasis added).

⁷⁸ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁷⁹ Id.

⁸⁰ Id.

⁸¹ Interview with Judge Green, supra note 73.

⁸² PUEBLO OF LAGUNA LAW AND ORDER CODE, ch. IV, § 26(b).

⁸³ Id. at ch. IV, § 26©.

⁸⁴ But see PUEBLO OF LAGUNA ELDERLY CODE, § 2 (“Anytime this code conflicts with customary or traditional law, the customary or traditional law shall control.” (emphasis added)).

⁸⁵ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁸⁶ Id.

⁸⁷ Id.

⁸⁸ Id.

⁸⁹ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. V, § 7.

⁹⁰ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁹¹ Id.

⁹² PUEBLO OF LAGUNA CONST. art. V, § 7; see also PUEBLO OF LAGUNA LAW AND ORDER CODE, ch. I, § 8(e).

⁹³ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

⁹⁴ Id.

⁹⁵ News Release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Reno Announces Major Initiative to Improve Indian Country Law Enforcement (Oct. 13, 1999).

⁹⁶ Id.

⁹⁷ See Patrick Armijo, Zuni Lands Nearly $4 Million To Combat Crime, ALBUQUERQUE J., October 14, 1999, at B3.

⁹⁸ Id.

⁹⁹ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2 (noting that the half a million that went to the Pueblo of Laguna will not have a huge impact on the Pueblo Court system).

¹⁰⁰ Tribal Justice Programs: Hearing Before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee (June 3, 1998) (Testimony of Attorney General Janet Reno, U.S. Department of Justice), available in 1998 WL 288964 (F.D.C.H.) at *7.

¹⁰¹ Id.

¹⁰² Id.

¹⁰³ It Has Come to Our Attention, 59 FED. PROBATION 94 (1995).

¹⁰⁴ Id.

¹⁰⁵ See Christine Zuni, The Southwest Intertribal Court of Appeals, 24 N.M. L. REV. 309 (1994) (providing a detailed history, purpose, goals of SWITCA).

¹⁰⁶ Interview with Chief Judge Cerno, supra note 2.

¹⁰⁷ News Release from U.S. Department of Justice, supra note 93.

¹⁰⁸ Id.

¹⁰⁹ Id.