Here.
An excerpt:
Today, the judges that preside over the Tulalip Tribal Court are provided by the Northwest Intertribal Court System and aren’t tribal employees, Taylor said. The judges, Theresa Pouley and Gary Bass, both members of the Colville Confederated Tribes, have decades of legal and judicial experience.
Pouley, the Tulalips’ chief judge, is president of the Northwest Tribal Court Judges Association. She also formerly served on the board of directors for the National American Indian Court Judges Association. She’s provided testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and last year was appointed to the federal Indian Law and Order Commission.
In remarks to the U.S. Senate in 2008, Pouley said, “No government has a greater stake in effective criminal justice system in Indian Country than the tribes themselves.”
The Tulalip Tribal Court’s expansion has been significant since 2001. That’s when the Tulalips successfully petitioned the state and federal governments to return law enforcement powers on the reservation to the tribes and federal authorities. The retrocession cleared the way for the Tulalips to create their own police force to oversee public safety on the reservation.
Turtle Talk 