Jim didn't merely re-establish the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. He was the author and main proponent of the legislation that stopped Public Law 280, the law that systematically eliminated many Indian tribes from federal recognition. If that wasn't enough, he also authored and pushed through both the Indian Child Welfare Act (recently affirmed by the US Supreme Court) and the Indian Religious Freedom Act. His impact on the legal treatment of Native sovereign nations will be felt for centuries to come.
Jim didn't merely re-establish the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. He was the author and main proponent of the legislation that stopped Public Law 280, the law that systematically eliminated many Indian tribes from federal recognition. If that wasn't enough, he also authored and pushed through both the Indian Child Welfare Act (recently affirmed by the US Supreme Court) and the Indian Religious Freedom Act. His impact on the legal treatment of Native sovereign nations will be felt for centuries to come.