context: Congress did not define "member" when it enacted IGRA, nor would federally imposed criteria be consonant with federal Indian policy. The great weight of authority holds that tribes have exclusive authority to determine membership issues.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.parenthetical: "[t]he Courts have consistently recognized that in the absence of express legislation by Congress to the contrary, a tribe has complete authority to determine all questions of its own membership as a political entity"
citation_a.sentence: See Martinez v. Southern Ute Tribe, 249 F.2d 915, 920 (10th Cir.1957), cert. denied, 357 U.S. 924, 78 S.Ct. 1374, 2 L.Ed.2d 1376 (1958) (“[t]he Courts have consistently recognized that in the absence of express legislation by Congress to the contrary, a tribe has complete authority to determine all questions of its own membership as a political entity”); see also Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 72 n. 32, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 1684 n. 32, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978) (holding that federal courts lacked jurisdiction to determine whether a tribe’s membership requirements violated ICRA, and noting that “a tribe’s right to define its own membership for tribal purposes has long been recognized as central to its existence as an independent political community”).
citation_b.signal: see also
citation_b.parenthetical: holding that federal courts lacked jurisdiction to determine whether a tribe's membership requirements violated ICRA, and noting that "a tribe's right to define its own membership for tribal purposes has long been recognized as central to its existence as an independent political community"
citation_b.sentence: See Martinez v. Southern Ute Tribe, 249 F.2d 915, 920 (10th Cir.1957), cert. denied, 357 U.S. 924, 78 S.Ct. 1374, 2 L.Ed.2d 1376 (1958) (“[t]he Courts have consistently recognized that in the absence of express legislation by Congress to the contrary, a tribe has complete authority to determine all questions of its own membership as a political entity”); see also Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 72 n. 32, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 1684 n. 32, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978) (holding that federal courts lacked jurisdiction to determine whether a tribe’s membership requirements violated ICRA, and noting that “a tribe’s right to define its own membership for tribal purposes has long been recognized as central to its existence as an independent political community”).