Indian
offenses on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. [84]
Plaintiffs, the court said, had chosen the wrong means to complain of
the failures of the CFR court to accord them their rights:The
injustices which plaintiffs allege occur in the Red Lake Court of
Indian Offenses are likely real and distressingly so. But, given
the unique and complex character of Indian tribes as quasi-sovereign
nations and the extraordinarily broad authority of Congress over Indian
matters, the role of the courts in matters between tribes and their
members, even where redness of violations of rights under § 1302
of the Act is sought, is quite restrained. Claims for redress of
the injustices of the Red Lake Court of Indian Offenses which
plaintiffs allege are today best directed to Congress. Unless and
until Congress states otherwise, this court is constrained to offer
only the remedy of habeas corpus for injustices in the Red Lake court
of Indian Offenses and is forced to stand as an idle observer of those
injustices which habeas corpus will not remedy. [85]
Of
particular importance is that in contracting with the Red Lake Tribe to
provide funds for a tribal court, the__________
[84] Washington, D.C. Hearing, supra note 4, at 204-04 (citation omitted).
[85] Id. at 206-07 (citation omitted).
