The sovereignty of tribal governments in the United States

Most people are accustomed to the idea that the federal and state governments exercise significant police powers over a broad range of our daily activities. We accept this notion because we accept that governments are invested with the powers to adopt and enforce laws for the common good, and because we believe that in electing representatives to our governments we have some say about what the laws will be and how they will be administered. Most of us also take comfort from the safeguards and limitations on government actions that are built into the Bill of Rights contained in the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.