Category Archives: Students

Amicus Brief in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder

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The Indian Legal Clinic and Sacks Tierney filed an amici brief in the above-reference case regarding the constitutionality of the Section 5 preclearance requirements. Indian Legal Clinic Student Attorney Nikki Borchardt (3L), Adjunct Professor and ASU Alum Judy Dworkin and Professor Patty Ferguson Bohnee prepared the brief.

Brief of the Navajo Nation, Anthony Wounded Head, et al. Amici are concerned that if the Court declares that the reauthorization of Section 5 is unconstitutional, American Indian voting rights will be significantly impacted and result in a reversal of the strides made in recent years to ensure greater Indian voter participation. This would negatively impact many American Indian voters who only recently secured the right to vote, continue to face discrimination in voting, and who cannot shoulder the financial burden to bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the VRA.

Pro Bono Winners!

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Congrats to our students who earned Pro Bono Distinction!

Highest Pro Bono Distinction (150 hours or more) — Joe Sarcinella
Pro Bono Distinction (50 — 99 hours) — Nikki BorchardtCongratulations for Sarah Cedar Face for being selected for a Summer Fellowship!

Pro Bono Participants
Sarah Cedar Face
Dan Lewis
Brad Martin
Rebecca Ross
Naomi White
Mandy Cisneros
Michael-Corey Hinton
Pat Kincaid

ILP Students co-author "Arizona Attorney" article

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ILP students co-author ‘Arizona Attorney’ article

Indian law should be added to the Arizona State Bar Examination for practical and professional reasons, according to an article written by two students in the College of Law’s Indian Legal Program and published in the May issue of Arizona Attorney.

“State and tribal interactions are increasing at an exponential rate,” wrote authors Brian Lewis (Choctaw) and Raymond Campbell (Gila River Pima), third-year students at the College of Law who are working in its Indian Legal Clinic. “In Arizona today, attorneys need to have at least a modicum of Indian law knowledge to serve their clients competently. And learning at least some Indian law will ensure that Arizona’s attorneys meet the requirements of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct.”

Many Indian law issues may arise in Arizona, from the adoption of Indian children and probate of real property on tribal lands to auto accidents on reservations that may involve complex jurisdictional dilemmas, Lewis and Campbell wrote in the article, “Indian law: A needed addition to the Arizona Bar Exam.”

The magazine invited the students to write the article, because a proposed Arizona Supreme Court rule change would include Indian law as a topic to be tested on the Bar exam. The comment period on the proposal ends May 20.

In 2003, New Mexico became the first state to include Indian law on its Bar exam, followed by Washington state in 2004, and other states are working to add it, Lewis and Campbell wrote. Arizona, the state with the largest percentage of Indian lands in the country, should not fall behind, they wrote.

To read the full article, click here.

National NALSA Awards

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Please join me in congratulating our ASU NALSA members and the COL alumnus who were honored by the National NALSA Executive Board at the Federal Bar Association’s Indian Law Conference last week. These students were nominated by the ASU Chapter of NALSA and voted on by the National NALSA Executive Board. Congratulations!

NNALSA Outstanding 1L of the Year – Khia Grinnell
NNALSA Outstanding 3L of the Year – Nikki Borchardt
NNALSA Outstanding Alum of the Year – Marlene Rae Jones (’97)

Interested in law school? Join us!

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You are invited to attend:
A Law School Information Session
Hosted by the Indian Legal Program & the Native American Law Students Association

Monday, April 6, 2009

NOON – 1:15 PM
ROOM 114

Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Arizona State University

Food will be provided.

This session is perfect for undergraduate or graduate students interested in applying to law school. Whether you are a freshman, senior or Masters student, there will be something for you. Law students will guide you through the application process and be available for questions. Please feel free to share with others you think might be interested.

Panel Presentation: Law and Indigenous Identity

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PLEASE JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL PRESENTATION!

Panel Title: Law and Indigenous Identity

Room 114
Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
6:15 – 7:45

Tuesday, March 31st

Food will be served!

**This panel presentation will be part of The Twelfth Annual Conference for the Association of the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities which will be hosted by Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts on April 4th.

Discussant Wenona Benally
Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law,

LL.M. Candidate (Tribal Policy, Law, and Government)

Panelist Timothy Linnins
Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law,

LL.M. Candidate (Tribal Policy, Law, and Government)
Paper: “Peyote Regulation and Intolerance”

Panelist Nicholas Natividad
Arizona State University, School of Justice and Social Inquiry,

Ph.D. Candidate
Paper: “Drawing a Line in the Land: Indigenous Peoples and Modern nation-state borders”

Panelist Breann Swann
Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law,

LL.M. Candidate (Tribal Policy, Law, and Government)
Paper: “Indigenous Peoples and the ‘World of Work'”

Please contact Ann Marie Downes

at ann.m.downes@asu.edu or 480.727.0616 for additional information.

Indian Legal Clinic Assists ACLU of Texas

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The ASU Indian Legal Clinic, lead by Professor Patty Ferguson Bohnee, assisted the ACLU of Texas in its effort to enjoin a Texas school district from enforcing a regulation that would prevent a Native American kindergartner from wearing his hair in braids at school in violation of his constitutional rights. The policy prohibits boys from wearing long hair so the family applied for a religious exemption, which the school district denied. Because of the policy, the student was placed in in-school suspension. The student believes “that his long hair is not only an expression of his ancestry and heritage, but also a sacred symbol of his life and experience in this world,” and the requirement that boys’ hair “shall not cover any part of the ear or touch the top of the standard collar in the back” violates his sincerely held religious belief.

Last semester, Student-Attorneys Joe Sarcinella and Mike Carter assisted in drafting the complaint to include provisions regarding the importance of hair and hair’s religious significance to Native Americans. The Student-Attorneys also helped to identify ASU Professor James Riding In as an expert witness for the preliminary injunction hearing. On January 20, 2009, the Southern District of Texas permanently enjoined the School District’s dress code exemption policy, and the student is allowed to attend and participate in regular classroom activities.

NALSA Moot Court Teams

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The NALSA students just returned from the National NALSA Moot Court in Colorado. Both of our teams (Nikki Borchardt & Brian Lewis and Dan Lewis & Liz Nazari) did well during their first two rounds, but unfortunately, neither team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen Round. Dan Lewis, 2L, took home an award for 3rd Place in the Best Oralist Category. I’m very proud of the competitors! They all worked very hard and represented us well.