Responding
to widespread requests from tribal leaders and Indian legal advocates,
President Barack Obama has nominated a Native American to serve on
the federal bench.
The president announced September 19 that Diane J. Humetewa
is a nominee for the U.S. District Court for Arizona. She is a Hopi
citizen, and from 2002 to 2007 she served as an appellate court
judge for the Hopi Tribe Appellate Court.
Obama has previously nominated one tribal citizen to serve on
the federal bench, Arvo Mikkanen, of the Kiowa Tribe, but Republican
senators successfully blocked that nomination during the president's
first term. Oklahoma's senators in particular expressed frustration
that the administration did not consult with them on the nomination,
but they would not say specifically what their problem with Mikkanen
was at the time. The administration pushed back, with White House
officials laying full blame with Senate Republicans, saying it was
part of their overall plan to thwart the president.
If Mikkanen would have been confirmed, he would have been the
only American Indian to serve on the federal bench, out of a total
of 875 federal judgeships, and he would have been only the third
Native American in history to secure a federal judgeship.
If Humetewa can pass muster with the Senate Judicial Committee
and Arizona's senators, then she will have the distinction of being
the first Native American appointed and confirmed to the federal
bench by Obama. It is already known that she has a strong ally in
U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) who previously recommended her
for a U.S. attorney position during George W. Bush's second term.
Indian affairs experts had been pressuring the president to
make another Native American federal judgeship appointment
several more, in fact citing the large number of Indian law
cases heard in federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court's tendency
not to understand tribal law.
Jack Trope, executive director of the Association on American
Indian Affairs, told Indian Country Today Media Network earlier
this month that getting more Indians appointed to the federal bench
during Obama's second term was a top priority for a range of tribal
advocates.
"We just have to hope the administration goes through the process
of consulting the appropriate senators," Trope said. "We don't want
another situation like what happened with [Mikkanen]."
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn, a law
dean at the University of New Mexico before joining the administration
last year, expressed optimism on learning of the selection.
"Diane Humetewa will make an excellent judge," said Washburn,
a Chickasaw Nation citizen. "She was a very capable U.S. Attorney
for Arizona and a capable career prosecutor before that. She is
tough, but compassionate, and I know that she can gracefully handle
the stress of being the first Native American woman to travel this
path. This is a historic nomination."
Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Law Center at Michigan
State University, said Humetewa was "a wonderful selection," and
he expected that she should be easily confirmed.
Humetewa was previously nominated by President George W. Bush
in his second term to serve as the first female Native American
U.S. attorney in history. She resigned from that position in July
2009 as part of the political appointee process in Obama's then-new
administration. Some Native Americans asked the administration if
Humetewa could stay on in that position at the time, but the White
House declined.
In an interview with Indian Country Today Media Network in June
2008, Humetewa said she was "humbled" to be chosen for the U.S.
attorney position, and she hoped her promotion would encourage more
young Indians to consider careers in the legal field.
"The opportunity arose when one day I was sitting in my office,
and the telephone ranga gentleman said, 'Please hold for John
McCain,'" she shared. "Sen. McCain simply asked me whether I wanted
to provide this service for Arizona. Frankly, I was pretty taken
aback and surprised and flattered. I felt I certainly couldn't say
no."
Humetewa's biography, as provided by the White House, follows:
"Diane J. Humetewa currently serves as Special Advisor to the
President and Special Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at
Arizona State University. She is also a Professor of Practice at
Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. From
2009 to 2011, Humetewa was Of Counsel with Squire, Sanders &
Dempsey LLP. She worked in the United States Attorney's Office in
the District of Arizona from 1996 to 2009, serving as Senior Litigation
Counsel from 2001 to 2007 and as the United States Attorney from
2007 to 2009. During her tenure in the United States Attorney's
Office, Humetewa also served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General
from 1996 to 1998. From 1993 to 1996, she was Deputy Counsel for
the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Humetewa received
her J.D. in 1993 from Arizona State University College of Law and
her B.S. in 1987 from Arizona State University. She is a member
of the Hopi Indian Tribe and, from 2002 to 2007, was an Appellate
Court Judge for the Hopi Tribe Appellate Court."
|