There are tribes that refer to themselves as nations, like the Cherokee Nation for example. I don’t really know if there’s a specific meaning to “nation” vs using some other word. I used “entity” in order to try to avoid using a more nuanced word incorrectly. The tribes have sovereignty is all I meant.
I’m not really sure what Gorsuch was getting at with his question, but my understanding is that Native Americans are not citizens by the 14th amendment, because tribes are sovereign entities, and therefore fall into the “not subject to the jurisdiction” part of that amendment. However, they are granted citizenship by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
I really hope we can keep the state legislature moving in a more sane direction as well.