1953
LegislationBook sources
Public Law 280 expands state jurisdiction
Specified states; Indigenous nations
The law transferred substantial criminal and civil jurisdiction to certain states without requiring tribal consent in its original framework. It weakened tribal control and complicated already unequal access to justice.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
Jurisdiction varied by state, reservation and statutory exceptions; it was not a uniform nationwide transfer.
Sources
- Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2014), chapter 9