Sad, sad day.
News coverage from How Appealing here. Ninth Circuit press release here. From the ABA Journal site:
Betty Fletcher, a judge with the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, died Monday, the Associated Press reports.
Fletcher, 89, was appointed to the court by President Jimmy Carter, and has been on the bench since 1979. She graduated from University of Washington Law School in 1956, according to a 2009 Seattle Weekly profile of the jurist. Then 33, she had four young children and went to work at the firm that is now K&L Gates.
Two of her children, William and Susan, became lawyers, and William Fletcher is also now a 9th Circuit justice. Betty Fletcher is well-known for telling U.S. Senate Republicans, who according to the Associated Press delayed her son’s judicial appointment, that to ease his confirmation she would take senior status so they could appoint someone for her seat.
William Fletcher’s nomination was confirmed in 1998.
Judge Fletcher’s track record in Indian cases was simply amazing. Lots of well-known cases below:
Crow Tribe v State of Montana 1981
Puyallup Indian Tribe v Port of Tacoma 1983
White Mountain Apache v Williams (dissent) 1984
Blackfeet Tribe v Montana 1984
National Farmers Union v Crow Tribe 1984
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe v Cal State Board of Equalization 1986
US ex rel Chunie v Ringrose 1986
Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck v Board of Oil & Gas Conservation of Montana 1986
Yakima Indian Nation v Whiteside (Brendale) 1987
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe v US 1990
Gila River Indian Community v Waddell 1992
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v Yavapai County 1995
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v Arizona 1995
Owens Valley Indian Housing Authority v Turner 1999
AT&T Corp. v Coeur d’Alene Tribe 2002
Turtle Talk 
This is sad.
I’m sorry to hear of Judge Betty Fletcher’s passing. Is she related to Matthew Fletcher? Please accepty my condolences, Elena Elena Rodriguez