Surveying the Boundaries: State and Tribal Court Jurisdiction

Beth Ermatinger Hanan & William H. Levit Jr. in the Wisconsin Lawyer

When disputes concerning overlapping state court and tribal court jurisdiction occur within the Ninth and Tenth Judicial districts, the parties and courts can use an agreed-on procedure to determine which court has jurisdiction to proceed. When there is a risk of a deadlock between the courts, the federal tribal exhaustion doctrine, coupled with comity's critical role in resolving interjurisdictional disputes, makes deference to proceeding in tribal court more likely.