Attorney General Edward H. Levi created the Indian Resources Section of the Justice Department on May 27th, 1974. Since then, the department has provided primary “responsibility for trial court litigation of suits in which the United States is asserting rights to water, title to property, hunting and fishing rights and other natural resource interests of Indians and Indian Tribes.”

Indian Resources Section of the Justice Department

Although the Indian Resources Section is relatively small, its cases concern vast amounts of land and resources and important principles of tribal sovereignty and identity. These cases fall into the following four broad categories:

The scope of tribal lands and jurisdiction;
Treaty hunting and fishing rights;
Water rights adjudication; and
The defense of agency action in furtherance of tribal interests.
This broad docket encompasses issues of regional and national importance. See below for additional information on the categories of cases we litigate and related examples. We also include an interactive timeline that gives examples of the broad nature of our work and provides important developments in Indian law and policy both before and after the creation of the Section.
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