Opinion ID: 1968060
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: effect of tribal court judgments

Text: Tribal courts are courts as regular as any other. They are set up pursuant to federal law, and often supported by federal funds. They are considered for some purposes, at least, as federal courts. See United States v. Wheeler, 545 F.2d 1255 (9th Cir. 1976), holding that a conviction of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in tribal court barred, under the double jeopardy provisions of the United States Constitution, a subsequent federal prosecution for rape, since tribal courts and federal courts are not arms of separate sovereigns. And see, Colliflower v. Garland, 342 F.2d 369 (9th Cir. 1965), in which it is stated that  . . . it is pure fiction to say that the Indian courts functioning in the Fort Belknap Indian community are not in part, at least, arms of the federal government. I suggest that we are as bound to give full faith and credit to judgments of tribal courts within their jurisdiction as we are to federal courts within theirs.