Find Tribal Constitutions

Read about tribal constituion research in Researching American Indian Tribal Law (from the National Indian Law Library).

To find materials about drafting constitutions -- Begin at Tribal Law Drafting web page.

By name of tribe:

• Browse our Tribal Law Gateway by the tribe's name.
• Search for constitutions in the NILL Catalog. Watch a 3 minute video demo on how to do this.

Full-text search:

Use our search engine (right). It will search the full text of all constitutions that NILL has available online, the table of contents of constitutions that NILL has available in print, as well as constitutions included in the Oklahoma University website. Watch a 3 minute video demo on how to do this.

WestlawNext (fee-based) resources:

More than 20 tribal codes are available through WestlawNext, most of which contain constitutions. See the Tribal Codes on WestlawNext for more information.

Selected online resources relating to constitutions:

Indigenous Governance Database and Constitutions Resource Center (requires login) / Native Nations Institute - The online Indigenous Governance Database (IGD) features educational and informational resources on tribal self-governance and tribal policy reform that: foster Native nation building promote tribal sovereignty disseminate Indigenous data encourage tribal leadership development support the development of capable governing institutions highlight sustainable economic and community development in Indian Country.

Tribal Law Links / Tribal Court Clearinghouse - Provides links to tribal law resources on the Internet.

Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project / University of Oklahoma - codes, constitutions and other digital works, many of which are historical.

The Memory Hole 2 published the Constitutions of 440 Native American Tribes. This site includes 612 tribal constitution documents obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request. Most of the documents are historical in nature.

Indian Law Portal / Arizona State University Law Library - This portal has an Arizona focus (see "AZ Trbal Law Sources") but is also comprehensive in scope, including both tribal law and federal Indian law resources.

National Directory of Tribal Justice Systems - National American Indian Court Judges Association - National directory includes contact information for tribal justice systems. May be sorted by Tribe, NAICJA Region, BIA Region or State.

Selected print sources relating to tribal constitutions:

Tribal Constitution Handbook: a Practical Guide to Writing and Revising a Tribal Constitution. NILL Catalog Record.

Tribal Constitutions: a Handbook for BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs] Personnel. NILL Catalog Record.

American Indian Constitutional Reform and the Rebuilding of Native Nations. NILL Catalog record.