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IU McKinney Visiting Professor Aila Hoss provided “An Introduction to Federal Indian Law” on November 14. The event took place at Inlow Hall.

Prior to entering the legal academy, Professor Hoss was a staff attorney for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Law Program, where she worked to improve public health through the development of legal tools and the provision of legal technical assistance to state, Tribal, local, and territorial governments. It was while she was a student at the University of Oregon School of Law, which has a nationally ranked environmental law program, where “it became apparent to me that environmental issues resonated most with me when discussed in the context of population health,” Professor Hoss said.

That prompted her to explore a potential career in public health law. Professor Hoss interned with a small obesity prevention nonprofit during her first summer of law school, where she learned about how American Indian and Alaska Native populations were burdened disproportionately by negative health outcomes. She then enrolled in classes in federal Indian law and tribal law. Tribal leaders, attorneys, and judges from the area were guest speakers at those classes. “Learning about their experiences promoting and protecting tribal sovereignty in their communities inspired my interest in the intersection of public health law and Indian law,” Professor Hoss said.

Indian law has relevance for every legal practitioner, Professor Hoss said. “Even if there are no federally-recognized Tribes located within the boundaries of the state in which you practice, there are Native Americans living in everywhere,” she said. “And, Indian law issues related to family law, taxation, gaming etc. can still be relevant to our work. More importantly, the history between Tribes and the federal government is often omitted or heavily edited in our education curriculum. Every person should be aware of not only of the historical injustices against Tribes and Native Americans but also how they continue to permeate our institutions, laws, and policies today.”