Attorney: Richard
Guest, John Echohawk
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..
The Project also continues to seek opportunities to educate the federal judiciary and to provide opportunities for federal judges to meet with tribal judges. On behalf of the Project, we attended the American Bar Association Judicial Division Standing Committee on Minorities in the Judiciary workshop on Achieving a Diverse Judiciary: the Path to Becoming a Judge held at the ABA Annual Conference in August 10, 2007. In addition, we attended portions of the ABA's Appellate Judges Education Institute 2007 Summit for Appellate Judges, Lawyers and Staff Attorneys held in Washington, D.C. September 27-30. The Project is also making a presentation to Tribal judges next week at the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) Conference to provide an update of our work. We assisted NAICJA in preparing an invitation to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to tour tribal courts in the Summer of 2008 or 2009. In addition, NARF is working with NCAI to invite judges from the Tenth Circuit and their law clerks to attend the NCAI Annual Conference being held in Denver, November 11-16, 2007.
The Project is seeking to establish a network of tribal and federal judges through active participation at these judicial conferences and seeking opportunities to further educate the federal judiciary about Indian law and tribal sovereignty. In addition, we are working 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. The Project is developing a primer on Indian tribes and federal Indian law for distribution to all newly appointed members of the federal judiciary who have Indian tribes in their jurisdiction.
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