Stacy L. Leeds, a William H. Hastie Fellow who received her LL.M. degree from the UW Law School in 2000, has been sworn in as the first female justice of the Cherokee Nation. Leeds is now a member of the Cherokee Nation's highest court, the Judicial Appeals Tribunal, after taking her oath on the tribal courthouse steps in downtown Tahlequah, Oklahoma on August 15. Leeds, 30, was appointed by Principal Chief Chad Smith and confirmed by the tribal council on August 12. She joined the three-person tribunal three years after Smith noted during his inauguration the importance of women as leaders in the historically matriarchal tribe. In her remarks at the swearing-in ceremony, Leeds said, "Traditionally, the Cherokee Nation has been a matrilineal society. A number of tribes were based on matrilineal rather than patrilineal societies. Wilma Mankiller was elected to the executive branch back in the '80s, and we've had strong (female) leadership on the (tribal) council as well as the executive branch. We just haven't had it in the judicial." Leeds, who earned her J.D. at the University of Tulsa Law School, also will be teaching law at the University of Kansas this fall. She spent the past two years teaching at the University of North Dakota Law School as well as directing that school's Northern Plains Indian Law Center. (Information from article 8/17/02 in The Oklahoman.)

Submitted by on August 20, 2002

This article appears in the categories: Articles