Martinez, Julia

Julia Martinez was a potter from Santa Clara Pueblo. She made mostly blackware bowls, jars, wedding vases and miniatures, and generally carved or painted them with geometric designs. However, she has become more famous for her and her daughter’s suit against Santa Clara Pueblo claiming gender discrimination in the pueblo’s constitution.

Julia’s husband was Dineh and Santa Clara’s constitution did not recognize their children as members of Santa Clara Pueblo because of that. They had no standing in the pueblo and couldn’t participate or vote in anything tribal. That also meant Julia couldn’t leave her property to her daughters in her will, the property would revert to the tribe and the girls would be SOL. For that matter, her children were allowed to live at Santa Clara until she died, then they would have to leave (unless they were married to a Santa Clara man, in which case they would have to move to his home and would still lose their mother’s house).

The children of a Santa Clara man and a non-Santa Clara woman are treated quite differently. His children can inherit his stuff, and hers. They have standing in the tribe and the right to participate and vote. That was the basis of the gender discrimination suit against the pueblo.

In the interests of tribal sovereignty, the US Supreme Court decided in favor of the pueblo’s right to decide such issues for itself. Part of that decision was based on the fact the pueblo was a sovereign governmental body that was passed from Spain to Mexico to the United States, in effect before there was a US Constitution. Therefore, the Bill of Rights and similar guarantees of civil rights in the Constitution have no bearing on the pueblo or its people, or on any other sovereign Native American government that existed prior to the birth of the United States and the adoption of the US Constitution.