Who We Are
The American Indian Law Review serves as a nationwide scholarly forum for analysis of developments in legal issues pertaining to Native Americans and indigenous peoples worldwide. Publishing two issues each year, AILR circulates in-depth articles by legal scholars, attorneys and other expert observers. In addition, the Review provides comments and notes written by student members and editors on a variety of Indian law-related topics.
Every spring AILR hosts one of the nation’s largest symposia on Native American law, in partnership with OU’s Native American Studies Department and the Native American Law Students Association. AILR also sponsors an annual Indian law writing competition, which is open to currently enrolled law students throughout the United States and Canada. The top three entries are awarded cash prizes and the first place entry is published in the Review.
Founded in 1973 by an enterprising group of students, AILR consistently boasts a broad membership dedicated to the study of Native American law. Approximately fifty OU Law students participate in AILR each academic year.
What's New at AILR
Rules have been posed for the 2025-2026 American Indian Law Review National Writing Competition. Deadline for entry is February 27, 2026. The winning entry will receive $1,500. See the Writing Competition page for full details.
The latest issue of the American Indian Law Review, vol. 49, no. 1, was published in June 2025 and has been posted at the Current Issues page. Featured in this issue is the winning paper in the 2024 AILR National Writing Competition, “The Need for Law in Federal Indian Law: A Response to Maggie Blackhawk in Light of the Supreme Court’s Troubling Term for Tribal Sovereignty,” by Nicholas B. Mauer. Also featured in this issue is an essay, “Institutions and Economic Development,” by Ezra Rosser; two student comments, “Tribal Authority to Issue Search Warrants to Non-Tribal Entities or on Non-Indian Land Within Reservation Boundaries,” by Ivy K. Chase, and “Into the Jurisdictionverse: How Tangled Jurisdictional Lines Around Indian Country Thwart Attempts to End the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” by Evan Gamble; and two student notes, “The Native Fight for Hunting Rights: The Crow Tribe and Herrera v. Wyoming,” by Jacob Lewis, and “The ‘Arm’ That Saves You Might Also Strangle You: The Impact of Sovereign Immunity on Economic Arms of Tribes and How It Could Affect Others’ Willingness to Contract with Them,” by Josh Pumphrey.
Serving the American Indian Law Review as editors for the 2025-2026 academic year are: Editor-in-Chief: Baylee Ogle; Managing Editor: Amelia Wimmer; Executive Editor: Will Speed; Business Development Editor: Drew Cromer; Articles Development Editor: Victoria Bradshaw; Assistant Managing Editors: Kaci Godfrey, Taya Maxson, Hannah Morton, Katie Reese, and Nick Rogers; Assistant Executive Editors: Mallory Duncan, Gabrielle Gollihar, Fatima Jaime, Sydney Mcclaskey, Alexis O’brien, and Seth Phung; Research Editors: Cassidy Beck, Victoria Bradshaw, Liv Cummins, and Taya Maxson; Writing Competition Editor: Michael Johnson; and Marketing Editor: Liv Cummins.
Vol. 48, no. 2, of the American Indian Law Review, published in March 2025, is also available in PDF format at the Current Issues page. Featured in this issue are two student comments, “How Poor Is Poor Enough? How Jurisdictional Differences in Implementing the Right to Counsel Affect Indigent Native Americans,” by J. Santana Spangler-Day; and “Benefit Corporations—A Tool for Economic Development and Fostering Sovereignty in Tribal Business Structures,” by Madelynn M. Dancer, along with two student notes, “The Amplified Federal Obligation: Why Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Amplifies the Federal Government’s Obligation to Provide Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care in Native American Communities,” by Rebecca M. Kamp, and “Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta—Using Sentencing Inequities to Address the Oliphant in the Room,” by Dillon M. Sullivan. The issue also includes a special feature, “A Tribal Court Blueprint for the Choctaw Freedmen: Effect of Cherokee Nation v. Nash,” by LeeAnn Littlejohn.
The AILR is currently reviewing articles. See the Submissions page for details.
The AILR archive of past issues is available free of charge. PDF copies of issues going back to vol. 1, no. 1 (1973) can be found through our Digital Commons page.
How to Contact Us
Baylee Ogle, Editor-in-Chief: ailreic@groups.ou.edu
Michael Waters, Editorial Advisor: mwaters@ou.edu
The American Indian Law Review is dedicated to publishing scholarly work in the field of federal Indian law and issues affecting indigenous peoples. The editorial board consists of law students, not licensed attorneys, and cannot provide legal advice. For assistance with legal issues please contact your local legal aid society.
AILR may be contacted by regular mail at: American Indian Law Review, University of Oklahoma College of Law, 300 Timberdell Road, Norman, OK 73019
Digital Commons
Explore AILR archives on OU Law's Digital Commons.