About

Matthew L.M. Fletcher is the Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law and Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan. His teaching and writing focus on Federal Indian Law, American Indian Tribal Law, Anishinaabe legal and political philosophy, constitutional law, federal courts, and legal ethics. He serves as the Chief Justice of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, as well as the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Additionally, he sits as an appellate judge for multiple tribes including the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, and others. Fletcher has previously taught at Michigan State University College of Law and the University of North Dakota School of Law, and has been a visiting professor at several prestigious law schools including Harvard, Stanford, and Michigan.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Law
• History
• Political economy
• Ecology
• Biology
• Business
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• Nanaboozhoo Died for Your Sins

  Michigan Law Review · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  A review of Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto By Vine Deloria, Jr.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• AI and Tribal Court Practice

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Issues of Contemporary Health Policy and Law for Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, Transgender and Gender-Diverse Communities in Indian Country

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Thinking about What I’ve Done

  Michigan State University Press eBooks · 2025-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Sovereignty Problem in Federal Indian Law

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Colonial Construction of Indian Country: Native American Literatures and Federal Indian Law. By Eric Cheyfitz

  Western Historical Quarterly · 2024-09-08

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Federal Indian Law as Method

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Bizindan Miinawa (Listen Again)

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Data from l-Arginine Depletion Blunts Antitumor T-cell Responses by Inducing Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells

  2023-03-30 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  <div>Abstract<p>Enzymatic depletion of the nonessential amino acid l-Arginine (l-Arg) in patients with cancer by the administration of a pegylated form of the catabolic enzyme arginase I (peg-Arg I) has shown some promise as a therapeutic approach. However, l-Arg deprivation also suppresses T-cell responses in tumors. In this study, we sought to reconcile these observations by conducting a detailed analysis of the effects of peg-Arg I on normal T cells. Strikingly, we found that peg-Arg I blocked proliferation and cell-cycle progression in normal activated T cells without triggering apoptosis or blunting T-cell activation. These effects were associated with an inhibition of aerobic glycolysis in activated T cells, but not with significant alterations in mitochondrial oxidative respiration, which thereby regulated survival of T cells exposed to peg-Arg I. Further mechanistic investigations showed that the addition of citrulline, a metabolic precursor for l-Arg, rescued the antiproliferative effects of peg-Arg I on T cells <i>in vitro</i>. Moreover, serum levels of citrulline increased after <i>in vivo</i> administration of peg-Arg I. In support of the hypothesis that peg-Arg I acted indirectly to block T-cell responses <i>in vivo</i>, peg-Arg I inhibited T-cell proliferation in mice by inducing accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC). MDSC induction by peg-Arg I occurred through the general control nonrepressed-2 eIF2α kinase. Moreover, we found that peg-Arg I enhanced the growth of tumors in mice in a manner that correlated with higher MDSC numbers. Taken together, our results highlight the risks of the l-Arg–depleting therapy for cancer treatment and suggest a need for cotargeting MDSC in such therapeutic settings. <i>Cancer Res; 75(2); 275–83. ©2014 AACR.</i></p></div>

  PublisherDOI

• Due Process and Equal Protection in Michigan Anishinaabe Tribal Courts

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Wenona T. Singel

  Michigan State University

  12 shared

• Kathryn E Fort

  Michigan State University

  10 shared

• Augusto C. Ochoa

  Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans

  6 shared

• Dulfary Sanchez-Pino

  6 shared

• Paul Thevenot

  Ochsner Medical Center

  6 shared

• Patrick Raber

  Louisiana Cancer Research Center

  6 shared

• Rosa A. Sierra

  Louisiana Cancer Research Center

  6 shared

• Dorota Wyczechowska

  Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans

  6 shared

Labs

• U-M LSA American CulturePI

Education

• J.D., School of Law

  University of Michigan

  1997

• B.A., Literature, Science, and the Arts

  University of Michigan

  1994

Awards & honors

• Lead Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement o…
• Federal Indian Law (West Academic Publishing, 2016)
• Principles of Federal Indian Law (West Academic Publishing,…
• co-authored the sixth, seventh, and eighth editions of Cases…
• three editions of American Indian Tribal Law (Aspen 2011, 20…