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67 Fed. Law. 15 (2020)
In the Pursuit of Inclusion and Fundamental Fairness: Native Americans and Judicial Clerkships

handle is hein.barjournals/fedlwr0067 and id is 89 raw text is: Diversity Inclusion In the Pursuit of Inclusion and Fundamental Fairness: Native Americans and Judicial Clerkships by Christine J. Jordan Christine J. Jordan is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and a descendent of the Pueblo of Isleta. She an adjunct professor at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Jordan is member of the FBA Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, a board member of the Minnesota American Indian BarAssociation, and a member of the PLSJudicial Clerkship Committee. She earned her J.D. and Indian Law Certificate from the University of New Mexico School of Law. To further the pursuit of justice in the United States, it is vital that Native Americans' are included in the important work of the judiciary. As former FBA President Lawrence Baca stated, It is crucial to the acceptance of a justice system that any people see themselves as participants in it, not just the recipients of its outcome. Fundamental fairness in any legal system must also have the appearance of fairness that comes with the inclusion of all races.2 The appearance of fairness is difficult to achieve when there are very few Native Americans currently sitting on the bench in both federal and state courts. At the federal level, there are only two sitting judges among the overall history of four Native Americans appointed to the federal judiciary. In Minnesota, there is only one Native American state district court judge on the bench and one Native American woman on the Minnesota Supreme Court.3 Recently, the governor of Washington appointed the first Native American woman to sit on the state Supreme Court.4 In addition, the number of enrolled Native law students is concerning. In 2018, Native Americans and Alaska Natives accounted for only .56% of enrolled law students in American Bar Association (ABA)-accred- ited law schools, while Native Hawaiian law students made up only .17%.' Despite these statistics, Native Americans must persevere in their efforts to learn and participate in the judiciary. By seeking out judicial clerkships, Native American law students and attor- neys can gain invaluable knowledge of the judiciary that will assist them in practice and possibly lead to a seat on the bench. Native American Law Clerks Many students who pursue clerkship opportunities fall under the typical law review-moot court top 10 percent of their class criteria for judicial clerkships, and some of these students are indeed Native Amer- ican. Students who do not follow this path, however, are still gaining the support, experience, and knowl- edge to become exceptional candidates for judicial clerkships. It is recommended that judges consider hiring judicial clerks with diverse backgrounds and experiences from a variety of law schools to increase clerkship opportunities for Native Americans. Judges at the state and federal levels took this approach when hiring their clerks and provided incredible opportuni- ties for the following Native practitioners. Forrest Tahdooahnippah Forrest Tahdooahnippah, a partner at Dorsey Whitney LLP and president of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association, followed his own path to obtain a judicial clerkship. From 2010-2012, he clerked for Judge Ann Montgomery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. A member of the Coman- che Nation, Forrest was one of three Native American law students in his class at the University of Minnesota Law School, and he does not recall receiving any tar- geted encouragement to seek out clerkships from the law school's faculty. Forrest's mentors at Dorsey Whit- ney-former judicial clerks-shared their experiences with him and encouraged him to apply for clerkships. Forrest did not follow the path of judicial externships or edit his school's law review. Instead, he clerked for law firms as a student and participated in the law school's moot court program. As a result, Forrest was well prepared for his clerkship in Judge Montgomery's chambers. When I started my clerkship, I was just as prepared as the other judicial clerks and I was confi- dent in my skill set. His clerkship helped him discover his current area of practice-intellectual property law. While clerking, I was able to explore multiple areas of law that I had not previously encountered. Elisabeth Guard Presently, Elisabeth Guard, a member of the Mitchell Bay Band of Indians and descendant of the Swinomish Indian Community, is one of the attorneys fortunate to clerk in Hon. Diane Humetewa's chambers in the March/April 2020- 4 `: ..ER '.E.-15

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