UNIT 19 • STAGE 3 OF 7
The Laws
Build the legislation card grid and introduce text-wrap: balance
The Four Laws
Stage 3 builds the legislation section. This era produced four key federal laws that extended and clarified the legal framework of Tribal sovereignty after 1994. Each law addresses a specific gap or need.
Tribal Law and Order Act (2010)
Public Law 111-211. Expanded Tribal sentencing authority from one year to three years per offense for Tribes that meet specified due process requirements. Required federal agencies to report data on declined prosecutions in Indian Country, creating accountability for the pattern of federal non-prosecution that had left many crimes on reservations without consequence. Strengthened Tribal courts, Indian police programs, and detention facilities.
UNDRIP, US Endorsement (2010)
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. The United States voted against it, along with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. President Obama reversed the U.S. position and formally endorsed UNDRIP on December 16, 2010. UNDRIP affirms Indigenous peoples' rights to self-determination, lands, territories, and resources, and establishes international standards for free, prior, and informed consent. The endorsement is not binding law, but it signals a policy position and is cited in international and domestic advocacy.
HEARTH Act (2012)
Public Law 112-151 (Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Home Ownership Act). Allowed Tribes to lease Tribal trust lands without case-by-case federal approval, provided the Tribe has BIA-approved leasing regulations in place. Removed a significant administrative bottleneck that had delayed housing, commercial development, and renewable energy projects on trust lands for decades. A practical expansion of self-governance into land management.
VAWA 2013 Tribal Provisions
The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (Public Law 113-4), Title IX. Granted Tribal courts criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence, dating violence, and violations of protective orders committed on Tribal lands. Directly addressed the jurisdictional gap created by Oliphant v. Suquamish (1978), which held that Tribal courts could not prosecute non-Indians. Native women face some of the highest rates of violence in the country, and most perpetrators are non-Indian. The Tribal provisions were a decade in the making and are the most significant expansion of Tribal criminal jurisdiction since the Self-Determination Era.
New CSS Property: text-wrap: balance
Headings and titles often end with one or two orphaned words on the last line. text-wrap: balance is a modern CSS property that distributes text across lines as evenly as possible, preventing those single-word orphans.
font-family: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif;
font-size: 1.5rem;
font-weight: 700;
line-height: 1.2;
text-wrap: balance; /* distributes text across lines evenly */
}
text-wrap: balance, the browser calculates how to split text so lines are roughly equal in length. A title that would have broken as "Violence Against Women
Act" fits cleanly instead of "Violence Against Women Reauthorization
Act".- This property works on headings and short text blocks. It is not meant for long body paragraphs, where it has no effect.
- Browser support: Chrome 114+, Firefox 121+, Safari 17.4+. Excellent coverage for modern browsers.
The Law Card Structure
Each law card uses a flex column layout with a year badge at the top, a Playfair Display title with text-wrap: balance, the law citation, a body paragraph explaining what the law does, and a significance line at the bottom separated by a border.
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;
gap: 24px;
}
.law-card {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
gap: 16px;
}
Build the Laws Section
The laws section background is --bg-main (alternating with the Building section's panels, which use both --bg-main and --bg-section). Add the section header with eyebrow, title, and intro paragraph, then the .laws-grid with all four law cards.
Stage 3 Complete!
The laws are in place. Stage 4 is The Courts: the centerpiece is McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020), the landmark ruling that confirmed nearly half of eastern Oklahoma is Indian Country. You will build a full-width callout for McGirt, then two supporting cases.
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