Marshalling Past and Present: provides an introduction to the Marshall Trilogy, the foundational set of Indian law Supreme Court opinions. These cases announced a presumption that while Congress has plenary power in the area of Indian affairs, that which it has never taken away remains among the inherent power of tribes. Frickey questions whether the modern court is remaining faithful to these principles and explores the implications for Indian country should the presumption of inherent tribal power be eroded.

The Algebra of Federal Indian Law: suggests that legal discourse inherited from a European perspective has helped to justify colonialism and perpetrate the ongoing subordination of Indian tribes. Because the common law was inherited from a system that treated non-Christian, non-White, indigenous peoples as inferior, judicial treatment of Indians can never reconcile competing worldviews. Instead, Williams argues for a rejection of European legal norms and the creation of an ‘Americanized’ approach to Indian law that reconsiders the origins of the power dynamic between Indian and European peoples to synthesize a new worldview.