Political Quotes

“today I would like to address a provision of the Violence Against Women Act, S. 47, that is of great concern. Title IX of VAWA provides tribal courts with special jurisdiction over non-Indians who are charged with crimes of domestic violence. While title IX requires tribal courts availing themselves of this special jurisdiction to provide the non-Indian defendant ``all other rights whose protection is necessary under the Constitution,'' I am concerned that such proceedings have the potential to deprive U.S. citizens of crucial due process rights, especially without further connection to the existing Federal court system. First, title IX currently requires a defendant to be tried by an impartial jury drawn from sources that ``reflect a fair cross section of the community.'' We are always concerned that the population from which a jury is drawn not result in bias against a defendant who may not be part of the same race, culture, or religion as the jurors. While the population of many Indian lands consists of a wide variety of both Indians and non-Indians, many parts of Indian country are populated by Indians who have close ties to one another but limited interaction with non-Indians. I believe we must seek to minimize the potential for bias against non-Indian defendants under such circumstances. Second, in State and Federal courts, the defendant has several options with which to challenge the validity of the court's rulings.…”