Whether it's challenging the legality of pipelines across tribal land or handling crimes committed on reservations, Native American law crosses constitutional boundaries, with lawyers and judges needing to understand the differences. For people like Ed Zendejas and Nicole Ducheneaux, it's just another day at the office.

Zendejas spends his time between ruling on cases as the Chief Judge for the Umo Ho (Omaha) tribal court in Macy, Nebraska, and as a professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Ducheneaux is a founding partner of Big Fire Law, an all-Native American and majority woman-owned firm. Four of the five founding members are Native women.

As the chief judge, Zendejas spends one a day a month in court at Macy, about 75 minutes north of Omaha. Issuing decisions ranging from civil cases to criminal charges, Zendejas ensures cases are decided using the Umo Ho constitution. He also serves as an appellate judge for the Sac and Fox nation in Kansas.

"We have exclusive jurisdiction over our tribal membership and other natives that are enrolled within tribal governments," Zendejas said. "We don't have criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians, and the state would have jurisdiction over them."

The federal government typically handles cases under the Major Crimes Act or the Indian Country Crimes Act, such as murder, sexual assault or drugs, Zendejas said.

Native American constitutions differ from the United States Constitution, such as allowing legal representation, but at a cost to the defendant, Zendejas said.

While Native Americans can spend up to a year in tribal jail at Macy for criminal convictions, tribal customs and traditions also play a role in cases, such as adoptions and probate, he said.

"We can dispense or distribute property based on tribal culture and tradition," Zendejas said. "If you were to deal with a probate issue in Nebraska, there are certain ways that you distribute it. But in in tribal court, we can exercise a little bit of a lot of latitude in terms of how we do something, based on our tradition."

The biggest challenge with tribal law may be for non-Native attorneys adjusting to jurisdiction questions, he said.

"The United States Constitution does not apply against tribal governments," Zendejas said. "Individuals who come on to the reservation, even tribal members, don't have the same Bill of Rights protections that you would have in a state or federal court."

Ducheneaux, a University of Montana law school graduate, seems to be a master of both justice systems. Her biggest victory came at the Supreme Court of the United States, winning a lawsuit that proved the Dakota Access oil pipeline was illegally constructed along tribal land in South Dakota, with the US Army Corps of Engineers acting arbitrarily in approving routing the pipeline along the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations.

Preparing to argue before the highest court in the land in 2021, Ducheneaux drew on family history to qualm her nerves, she said.

"I was thinking back on the history of our relationship with the Corps," Ducheneaux said. "My grandpa was our chairman when they were negotiating the taking of land back then, and my grandma and grandpa fought so hard against the dam and they fought so hard in Congress to try to get us reparations, and it really shaped our tribe and it shaped our family.

"We weren't able to prevent the dam from going in. And, you know, my grandparents were at a deficit. My grandpa had an eighth grade education. My grandma was raised in boarding school and only had a high school education. And nobody in our tribe at that time had the resources that tribal members have now."

Big Fire Law, which opened in 2019, works with several tribes in Indian Country, Ducheneaux said. After spending about seven years with Fredericks, Peebles and Morgan, she jumped at the opportunity to become a founding partner with Big Fire.

Ducheneaux often has an opportunity to draw on family history when arguing cases in court. Her father helped write federal legislation related to Native American law, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

"The one thing that I almost always quote, when I'm drafting a brief that has to do with sovereignty, is the preparatory language of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which makes a commitment to economic development and strong tribal government," Ducheneaux said. "The words of Congress making it a policy of the federal government to support strong tribal government. Those are my dad's actual words. I can hear him in my head."