Last week, I posted an entry on this blog highlighting particular concerns with the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to Department of the Interior’s land-into-trust regulations.

I received a number of messages in response to that post, including one from a friend and colleague who asked this question: What if the purpose of these changes is to limit the Indian Reorganization Act’s land-into-trust provisions to the tribes that were allotted under the Dawes Act?

In my own mind, I’ve chalked-up the Trump Administration’s proposal to an attempt to slow or stop lands from going into trust, and to claim more authority to reject tribal applications. But, my colleague raised a question that merits a clear answer from the Administration.

There is a legal theory advanced in some circles that the Indian Reorganization Act’s land-into-trust language was merely intended as a remedy for those tribes that had their lands allotted and taken…