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As President Obama signs into law the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), CBS News takes note of recent Republican opposition to the bill, particularly a provision that allows prosecution in tribal courts of perpetrators who are not Native Americans.

Dartmouth’s N. Bruce Duthu ’80 tells CBS News that the provision is as significant as its opponents portrayed it to be.

“For the first time in the (post 1970s) modern era,” says Duthu, the Samson Occom Professor of Native American Studies and chair of the Native American Studies Program, “the Congress is substantially altering the jurisdictional framework—they are recognizing a power that Indians have over non-Native people. That is so significant in terms of looking at the scope of tribal power.”

Read the full story, published 3/7/13 by CBS News.