Domination Chronicles: Mark Savage on Natural Rights and Unravelling the Questions

Attorney Mark Savage joins Newcomb and d’Errico for a conversation about natural rights, plenary power, treaties, and the possibility of systemic litigation. The episode asks what changes when Native nations and their advocates begin from original free existence rather than from the categories imposed by federal anti-Indian law.

The discussion revisits some of the central legal fictions of U.S. law, especially the claim that Congress holds plenary power over Indigenous nations. It also considers treaties and bilateral relations as reminders that Native nations were not created by the United States and do not derive their existence from federal recognition. Savage’s presence brings the conversation toward strategy without losing the deeper conceptual work. The episode is important because it shows how legal argument depends on the questions we ask first. If the starting point is domination, one set of possibilities appears. If the starting point is original free existence, another horizon opens.

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