Director of the ASG Office of Political Status, Constitutional Review and Federal Relations, Tapaau Dr. Daniel Aga, last week, gave a presentation virtually for law students of Yale University for a seminar titled, “Indigenous Self Government”.
A required reading for the seminar was the US citizenship case, Fitisemanu vs United States.
Tapaau said his presentation gave a local perspective on issues relating to American Samoa’s political relationship with the United States.
Professor James Campbell who co-teaches the seminar with Professor Gerald Torres, who teaches federal Indian Law at Yale, said in an email to Tapaau, after his presentation, “We cover a lot of ground in the class and there is just no substitute for the perspective of those who are actively engaged in shaping public conversation.”
He added, “I very much appreciate that your perspective is not siloed to what is happening in American Samoa and takes stock of the Native American/Hawaiian/Chamoru experience, as well as the broader and ongoing constitutional struggle over race and inequality on the mainland.”
Some of the questions that the students asked?
How was American Samoa able to come together to express a unified view to the federal courts with respect to the citizenship question.
What were Tapaau’s experiences with the recent constitutional convention?
What are the biggest successes (and challenges) for American Samoa in navigating its relationship to the US Constitution and the US courts?
How does the matai system interact with the elected government when it comes to questions about the future of political status and relationship to the United States?
This was the second time that Tapaau has presented for the Yale School of Law.
His first lecture was in April.
