President Biden should consider an Indigenous woman at SCOTUS

There are 870 federal judges in the United States but only two are Native and neither serve on any of the nation's federal appeals courts nor on the Supreme Court. 

Nominated by President Joe Biden Sunshine Suzanne Sykes could be the first Indigenous American to serve on an Article III court in California and the first Navajo Article III judge anywhere in the country.

It is too early, according to some, for Biden to appoint a Native man or woman to the Supreme Court because he needs to appoint a black woman first. Why? Native Americans have waited for more than 200 years to have a judge on the court who understands their laws and concerns, but it will probably never happen in our lifetime because there is not one person in the White House who understands the difference between Indians and whites. [Native Sun News Today]

In 2011 this blog noted the absence of Native Americans on the federal bench then in 2013 President Barack Obama nominated Judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, to the US District Court of Arizona and she was confirmed by the Senate in 2014. 

All article III judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. “Being female and Native American, people aren’t used to seeing us as lawyers, at least when I was practicing back in the ’90s,” she said. Humetewa said Native American judges are particularly needed in states with large Native populations. “It gives the community the perception that people that they see on the district court reflect their community and some familiarity with the environment,” she said. According to the Federal Judicial Center, only three Native Americans have been federal judges in history. Michael Burrage, Choctaw, was confirmed in 1994 and served on the bench in Oklahoma until 2001, when he returned to private practice. [Indian Country Today]

Nominating Judge Humetewa for SCOTUS is not a new idea.