It sounds kind of obvious. If a state or the federal government signs a treaty, it should honor the agreement. But as recently as the 1970s that wasn’t true of treaties signed with Indian tribes. David Getches fought to change that. During his legal career, he also worked on other big issues in the West, like water law and public lands. Most recently, Getches was the dean of the law school at CU-Boulder. He died earlier this month at age 68 of pancreatic cancer. Two of his colleagues join Ryan Warner. John Echohawk heads the Native American Rights Fund and Professor Charles Wilkinson teaches law at CU.
[Photo: University of Colorado]
