ABSTRACT
As the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe filed suit against the federal government for using coercive measures to disassemble their COVID-19 checkpoints, Indian Country at large celebrated a landmark legal win for tribal sovereignty. The first case study concerns the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's and the Oglala Sioux Tribe's establishment of highway checkpoints in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the South Dakota government's attempt to infringe on these measures. The national borders of the United States demarcate the reaches of the nation as a settler colonial superpower and attest to the chaos of empire. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of American Quarterly is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)