Episode 4: Seeing Through To The Emperor's Extravagant Pretension
On • Duration 54:15
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A concurring opinion in FLYING T RANCH v. STILLAGUAMISH TRIBE, October 9, 2025, from the Supreme Court of the State of Washington criticized the 'racism' of foundational cases in 'federal Indian law'.
Description
In this episode, Steve Newcomb and Peter d'Erricodissect a recent concurring opinion from the Washington State Supreme Court that denounces the racist language in foundational federal Indian law cases while leaving the core doctrines of domination untouched. Using the FLYING T RANCH v. STILLAGUAMISH TRIBE decision as their entry point, they expose a crucial distinction: cleaning up offensive rhetoric does nothing to dismantle the legal architecture that continues to deny Indigenous sovereignty and legitimize settler control over Native lands. Steve and Peter demonstrate how well-meaning critiques of racist language can actually obscure the persistence of domination by allowing courts to appear enlightened while perpetuating the same colonial doctrines—now dressed in sanitized prose. The conversation challenges listeners to see through the emperor's new clothes: redacting slurs doesn't erase the extravagant pretension that Euro-American law has legitimate authority over peoples who never surrendered their freedom and independence.
This gives us an opportunity to show the limitations of critiquing the rhetoric of legal decisions, instead of challenging the actual doctrines established by those decisions. We show that the rhetoric of domination is not the same as the domination decisions themselves: Redacting the rhetoric leaves the domination intact.
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Citation
Newcomb, Steven T., and Peter d'Errico, cohosts. "Seeing Through To The Emperor's Extravagant Pretension." The Domination Chronicles Podcast, October 13, 2025. https://dominationchronicles.com/episodes/e004-seeing-through/.
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Play EpsiodeAbout Host
Domination Chronicles Host
Peter d’Errico graduated from Yale Law School in 1968. He was an attorney at Dinébe’iiná Náhiiłna be Agha’diit’ahii, Navajo Legal Services, in Shiprock, 1968-1970.
Steven T. Newcomb (Shawnee/Lenape) has been researching the history of U.S. federal Indian law and policy for four decades.
