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Attorney: Richard
Guest
Case Update
Through the Judicial Selection Project of the Tribal Sovereignty Protection Initiative, the Native American Rights Fund continues its work with the National Congress of American Indians in researching the backgrounds and evaluating the records of judicial nominees to the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court whose decisions will have a direct impact on Indian tribes and Indian people.
As reported earlier, the Project continues to seek opportunities to educate the federal judiciary and to provide opportunities for federal judges to meet with tribal judges. In December 2007, Tribal leaders and attorneys from NARF and NCAI were invited by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to have lunch and meet with over 30 active appellate judges during their business meeting in Pasadena, California. Building on that meeting, Judge Kozinski arranged for a meeting with Justice Kennedy during the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in July 2008. Separately, invitations were extended to Justices Kennedy and Alito to visit Indian country in 2009 and tour tribal court systems as did Justices Breyer and O'Connor in 2001. Both justices declined the invitations, but indicated an ongoing interest in learning more about tribal law and tribal judicial systems.
The Project is seeking to establish a network of tribal and federal judges through active participation at judicial conferences to further educate the federal judiciary about Indian law and tribal sovereignty. Once again, NARF and NCAI participated in the Appellate Judges Education Institute held in Phoenix, Arizona in November 2008. The Project is developing a process for evaluating qualified Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian lawyers, law professors and judges for nomination to the federal bench. In addition, we continue to work with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to ensure that all nominees are asked about their experience with Indian tribes and their understanding of federal Indian law during confirmation proceedings.
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