Navajo Nation Supreme Court Justice Raymond Austin

Navajo Judicial Branch Press Release Opposing Changes to Judicial Qualifications

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the press release: 92311_ProposaltoAmendQualificationsofNavajoNationJusticeMayUn.

And here are links to other responses to the proposal, including comments by Dr. Raymond Austin, former Navajo Supreme Court Justice, from the judicial branch website:

September 23, 2011: The Judicial Branch has issued its comments on proposed amendments to the qualifications of Navajo Nation Supreme Court justices at 7 N.N.C. § 354 (B) that were submitted last week to the Navajo Nation Council legislative process through Legislation No. 0388-11.  Chief Justice Yazzie and branch Human Resources Director Darren Tungovia commented separately, expressing concerns about the candidate pool and the consequences on Supreme Court’s ability to continue to be a leader in tribal court adjudication rather than in “a borrowed state or federal system in which our culture is merely anthropological speculation.”  Late Friday, Asso. Justice Emeritus Raymond Austin also submitted comments.  See press release.

 

News Coverage of Indian Demand for Indian Judges on Federal Court

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Available here on the U.S. News & WR site:

An excerpt:

The Federal Judicial Center, the education and research agency for the federal courts, lists only two Native American judges as having served in the nation’s history.

“There’s just a lack of representation and that lack of representation leads to no voice, no voice whatsoever in the decisions that are being made about Natives,” said Richard Guest, a senior staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, one of the Indian groups that have been meeting with White House officials in recent months, urging them to consider an Indian for the Supreme Court vacancy and for other federal judgeships.

Heather Dawn Thompson, the immediate past president of the National Native American Bar Association, calls it a “rather frustrating” situation.

“For over two hundred years, the United States Supreme Court has sat in judgment over us, over our lands, over our treaties and over our families. Not one single day have we ever had a voice in those decisions,” Thompson’s group said in its letter to Obama. [See a slide show of the Supreme Court Justices.]

Activists say they will continue meeting with White House officials, and tribal leaders are recruiting qualified Indian lawyers, professors and judges, such as retired Navajo Nation Supreme Court Justice Raymond Austin, to inspire Native students to pursue law degrees and careers.

Austin said he’s not surprised that the federal bench lacks Indian representation, but that “the time has arrived for President Obama to correct this deficiency.”

The Indian law community believes a combination of factors is to blame for their exclusion, including educational and cultural barriers, the lack of political influence by Indians on the national stage and the federal judicial nominating process itself.

One problem is the pool of Indian applicants qualified for a spot on the federal bench is just beginning to grow.