Vanessa Racehorse
Associate Professor of Law
Forthcoming
| Chaco Roads: Connecting Cultural Resources Protection with Environmental Justice, 97 COLO. L. REV. |
| Rematriation and Restoration of Ancestral Homelands, LAND BACK: RESTORING NATIVE CONTROL OF LAND IN THE UNITED STATES. |
Articles
| Tribal Health Self-Determination: The Role of Tribal Health Systems in Actualizing the Highest Attainable Standard of Health for American Indians and Alaska Natives, 55 COLUM. HUM. RTS. L. REV. 183 (2025). |
| Achieving Climate Justice Through Land Back: An Overview of Tribal Dispossession, Land Return Efforts, and Practical Mechanisms for #LandBack, (with Anna Hohag) 34 COLO. ENV'T L.J. 175 (2023). |
Other Publications
| Indigenous Influence on the Rights of Nature Movement, 38:3 NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT (ABA SECTION OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND RESOURCES) (Fall 2023). |
Symposia, Invited Essays, and Short Articles
| Cultivating Hope: A Future with Ethics Towards People and Places, 96(3) COLO. L. REV. 594 (2025) (invited contribution). |
| Teaching at the Intersection of Federal Indian Law and Environmental Law Courses, 49 Vermont L. Rev. 202 (2025) (with Mia Montoya Hammersley, Heather Tanana, Nadine Padilla, and Gerald Torres) (conference transcript). |
| Indigenous Influence on the Rights of Nature Movement, 38:3 NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT (ABA SECTION OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND RESOURCES) (Fall 2023). |
Courses:
| Spring 2025 | American Indian Law II | LAWS 7735-801 |
| Fall 2024 | Special Topics | LAWS 6708-802 |
Our Vision
With our roots in Colorado and a global outlook, we are ...
a supportive and diverse educational and scholarly community in a place that inspires vigorous pursuit of ideas, critical analysis, contemplation, and civic engagement to advance knowledge about the law in an open, just society.
Our Mission
To be an outstanding public law school that: provides students with a state-of-the-art legal education and prepares them to serve wisely and with professionalism; advances the development of knowledge through scholarship, testing of new ideas, and challenges to the status quo; and serves as a vehicle and catalyst for meaningful public service, all of which deliver high value to our students and have positive impacts?both locally and globally?on the legal profession and society.