Tulalip Appellate Justices
The Tulalip Tribes' Law and Order Ordinance § 49 calls for a Tulalip Court of Appeals for matters appealed from the Tulalip Tribal Court. The Northwest Intertribal Court System (NICS) administers the Court of Appeals for the Tulalip Tribes.
Tulalip Appellate Judges appointed to hear appeals at Tulalip are: Robert T. Anderson, Ric M. Kilmer, Douglas R. Nash, Elizabeth F.M. Nason, Daniel A. Raas, John C. Sledd, and Jane M. Smith.
Appellate Judges' Biographies
Honorable Robert T. Anderson, is an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (Bois Forte Band) and, Director, Native American Law Center; Associate Professor of Law. Robert Anderson is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington. He also has a long-term appointment as the Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is a co-author and member of the Board of Editors of Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law (2005) and is co-author of Anderson, Berger, Frickey and Krakoff, American Indian Law: Cases and Commentary (Thomson/West 2008). He teaches and writes in the areas of Indian Law, Public Land Law and Water Law. Students have selected Professor Anderson as a Professor of the Year three times at the UW. In 2008, he was co-lead of the Obama Transition team for the Department of the Interior. He spent 12 years as a Staff Attorney for the Boulder based Native American Rights Fund where he litigated major cases involving Native American sovereignty and natural resources. From 1995-2001, he served in the Clinton Administration under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, providing legal and policy advice on a wide variety of Indian law and natural resource issues.
Honorable Ric M. Kilmer (Tlingit), Ric Kilmer, an enrolled member of the Tlingit Indian Tribe, was born in Sitka, Alaska. At age seven, he moved to the Los Angeles area, then to Walla Walla, Spokane, and eventually to Everett by age ten, where he graduated from Everett High School. Mr. Kilmer attended the University of Washington in Seattle, then the UCLA School of Law-where he took one of the first Indian law classes offered in the nation. During the summer after his second year of law school, he clerked at the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colorado.
Since his admission to the Washington State Bar Association in 1979, Mr. Kilmer has worked exclusively in Indian country-first with Evergreen Legal Services' Port Angeles Office, then as a Muckleshoot Tribal Attorney; for 27 years with the Northwest Intertribal Court System as its Supervising Prosecutor and Indian Child Welfare Representative; and for the Tulalip Tribes as its Prosecutor and, most recently, as its Child Support Program Attorney.
In addition to his WSBA membership, Mr. Kilmer is admitted to the United States Federal Court-Western Washington District, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, the Supreme Court of the United States, and 23 Pacific Northwest Tribal Courts. He is also the Founding President of the Northwest Indian Bar Association (1991).
Honorable Douglas R. Nash, (Nez Perce), Director, Institute for Indian Estate Planning and Probate at Seattle University School of Law. Mr. Nash is a graduate of the University of New Mexico, School of Law where he is now a member of the Indian Alumni Council. He has practiced Indian law since 1971 in numerous capacities including the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor's Honors Program; staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund; and 14 years in a private, solo practice in Pendleton, Oregon, where he represented the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in various capacities. He served as Chief Counsel for the Nez Perce Tribe from 1989-1999. From 1999-2005, Mr. Nash was head of the Indian Law Practice Group at Holland and Hart, LLP. He served as Associate Professor of Law and James E. Rogers Fellow in American Indian Law at the University of Idaho, College of Law, where he developed the proposal for the Indian Estate Planning Project and directed that project until July 31, 2005. In August, 2005, Mr. Nash became Director of the Institute for Indian Estate Planning and Probate at Seattle University School of Law where he is also an Adjunct Professor of Law. The Institute has evolved into the new Center for Indian Law and Policy which will continue the work of the Institute as well as other programs and projects including a tribal dispute resolution project.
Bar service has included the Idaho Law Foundation CLE Committee; the Fairness & Equity Committee of the Idaho Supreme Court; IOLTA Committee; and the Tribal-State Court Judges' Forum established under the auspices of the Idaho Supreme Court. Mr. Nash currently serves as a Judge on the Tulalip Tribes' Court of Appeals and as Judicial Advisor to the Warm Springs Tribal Court of Appeals. He is the past Secretary and President of the National Native American Bar Association, past Board member of the NW Indian Bar Association and Secretary-Treasurer of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation Board from its inception until 2005.
Mr. Nash has represented tribes in litigation involving a wide range of issues including treaty fishing rights, damages claims for damage to fisheries, jurisdiction and gaming and has authored numerous articles. He is the Judicial Advisor to the Warm Springs Court of Appeals. He recently served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice on matters involving law enforcement and jurisdiction in Indian Country.
He is a member of the New Mexico (inactive status), Oregon, Idaho and Washington bars and is admitted to practice before the state and federal courts in those states, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. Other memberships include the Federal Bar Association and Indian Law Section, the Indian Law Sections of the New Mexico, Oregon, Idaho and Washington Bar Associations, the National Native American Bar Association and the Northwest Indian Bar Association.
Honorable Elizabeth (aka "Betty") F.M. Nason, Esq. is an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. She is married with 4 children and proud grandparent of 3 grandchildren with another soon to be born in October. She is also the caregiver and provider for her 16 year old nephew and 11 year old grandson. Elizabeth currently resides in her home of 30+ years on the Yakama Reservation.
Ms. Nason received her Bachelor’s Degree from Heritage University and Juris Doctorate from Gonzaga University School of Law. She is licensed member of the Washington State Bar Association and admitted to practice in Federal, State and Tribal Courts.
Ms. Nason was the first enrolled Yakama woman to graduate from law school and to become a licensed attorney. Ms. Nason is currently the Program Coordinator for the Yakama Nation Diabetes Program. Although not within the realm of her legal education and background the Program provides a great sense of personal enrichment for Elizabeth. She is involved in the development and implementation of healthy programs and events in the prevention and management of diabetes for the Yakama people and the Community. She has been in this position since September of 2006.
Prior to becoming the Program Manager for the Diabetes Program Elizabeth worked as the Chief Judge for the Yakama Nation Tribal Court. During the four year appointment she oversaw the budget of both the Lower, Children’s and Appellate Courts and supervision of the court staff. Ms. Nason presided over matters of both criminal and civil matters as well as jury trials. Being involved in the development of the Domestic Violence Code and implementation of the Healing to Wellness Courts were two of her greatest achievements. Ms. Nason also acted as a Pro-Tem Judge in various Tribal Appellate and Trial Courts and continues to provide judicial services for various Tribal Courts.
Ms. Nason’s prior work history includes managing her own law office and working as In House Legal Counsel for the Yakama Nation as both an Associate and Lead Attorney. Her outside interests include reading, coaching her grandson’s basketball team and travelling and acting as the manager for her children in the various sports that they participate in. She is also actively involved in drug and alcohol awareness activities and enrichment programs for the Native Youth.
Honorable Daniel A. Raas, Daniel A. Raas has represented the Lummi Nation since 1976 and the Quinault Indian Nation from 1973-1976. He earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law as a Root-Tilden Scholar in 1972, and a B.A. in Chemistry from Reed College, Portland, Oregon in 1969.
He has represented the Lummi Nation in Tribal, Federal and State Courts in United States v. Washington, (including the shellfish and culvert cases) and other cases, defending tribal sovereignty, implementing Treaty rights, litigating commercial matters and representing individual tribal members in cases where Treaty rights are involved. On behalf of the Lummi Nation Justice Raas was one of the lead attorneys in obtaining an income tax exemption for income earned by Treaty fishers and successfully represented over sixty tribal fishers in U.S. Tax Court. Together with partner, Skip Johnsen, he represented the Lummi Nation in a civil rights case in the early 1980s which resulted in recognition that Indian Tribes could maintain sewer and water service to all residents of the Reservation and require connection to a tribally controlled municipal district where the majority of district commissioners were elected by tribal voters. As result of the suit, Lummi recovered judgments from the State of Washington, Whatcom County, several County chartered sewer and water districts and fourteen individuals of over $1.6 Million, plus the deeding of approximately 50 acres of County owned or claimed reservation land to the Lummi Nation. As result of Justice Raas' representation before the Interior Department and the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, regarding the canceling of a tidelands lease which would have allowed development of Portage Island as a County Park, the Lummi Nation regained ownership and control of Portage Island, a part of the Lummi Reservation.
Justice Raas was a Founding Trustee of the Washington State Bar Association's Indian Law Section and received the WSBA Pro Bono Award in 1991. He has served as President of the Whatcom County Bar Association, and was a Chair and founder of the Whatcom County LAW Advocates organization serving low income people in Whatcom County. He has spoken at Indian Law Continuing Legal Education programs, and at CLE seminars regarding civil procedure.
Justice Raas is a Trustee on the North American Board of Trustees of the Union for Reform Judaism (the congregational organization of Reform Jews) and is active in the Whatcom County Democrats. His klezmer/Israeli band, What the Chelm, is about to release its third cd.
Honorable John C. Sledd, is of Counsel to law firm of Kanji & Katzen, working in the Seattle office. John received his B.S., with Honors, in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Montana, School of Forestry. He took his J.D. in 1982 from the University of California , Berkeley (Boalt Hall), where he was Notes and Comments Editor of the Ecology Law Review and interned with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
He served as a staff attorney at DNA-People's Legal Services on the Navajo Reservation, where his caseload emphasized land, natural resources, consumer and welfare law for low-income tribal members. He was DNA's Director of Litigation from 1986 through 1989, supervising 20 attorneys in eight offices, and serving as program General Counsel.
From 1989 to 1999 John was Tribal Attorney for the Suquamish Tribe of Washington, where he supervised the Legal Department and handled land and natural resource issues, treaty rights, gaming, government relations, employment matters and tribal court prosecutions.
From 1999 to 2004 John was Director of the Native American Project of Columbia Legal Services in Seattle, supervising two attorneys and coordinating advocacy for low-income Indian clients. From 2004 through 2005 John performed a similar role as Senior Attorney for the Native American Unit of NW Justice Project. His work at Columbia emphasized trust land, federal trust responsibility, education and tribal government services. At Northwest Justice, he handled education, children's, and allotted land issues, including development of a tribal court juvenile defender program and a federally-funded Indian estate planning pilot project.
John is currently coordinating counsel for the tribes in the "culverts" sub proceeding of United States v. Washington, which seeks to ensure that habitat protection measures are taken by the State to bring about a rejuvenation of the fisheries on which the Washington tribes have relied for so long. John recently successfully argued the Tribes' motion for partial summary judgment where the Court held that the treaty right to take fish included a right to protect against diminishment of salmon runs as a result of fish passage blocking State culverts.
John is admitted to practice before state courts in Washington, Arizona (inactive) and New Mexico (inactive), federal courts in Arizona, New Mexico, and Washington, the Court of Federal Claims, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Supreme Court, and numerous tribal courts. He is an Associate Justice on the Court of Appeals of the Tulalip Tribes. He is a frequent speaker at professional conferences on a variety of topics in Indian and Tribal law. He is a former Trustee and Chair of the Indian Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association. He was the 2004 recipient of the Pierce-Hickerson award from the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association, recognizing outstanding contributions to the advancement and protection of Native American rights.
Honorable Jane M. Smith, (Colville), Jane M. Smith is the Chief Justice of the Tulalip Tribal Court of Appeals, being appointed in 2002. She works full-time as the Administrator/Law Clerk for the Colville Tribal Court of Appeals, a position she has held since 1997. Her judicial experience spans 16 years in several different Tribal courts: Spokane Tribal Court (pro tem), Quinault Tribal Court (pro tem and appellate), Suquamish Appellate Court, Colville Tribal Court (magistrate), Northwest Intertribal Court System (appellate and pro tem), Coeur d'Alene Tribal Court (appellate and pro tem) and Puyallup Tribal Court (appellate and pro tem). Justice Smith is a past president of the National American Indian Court Clerks Association. She has conducted trainings on tribal court systems throughout the United States. Based on her varied experience and expertise, Justice Smith has participated in the evaluations of several tribal court systems. She has 30 years total experience in tribal courts.
Justice Smith is currently serving as a lay member on the Practice of Law Board and is on the Gender & Justice Commission for the State of Washington. Both positions are Supreme Court appointments. She is the Tribal representative for the State Fall Judicial Conference Planning Committee, which ensures that Tribal Courts have input into the training sessions selected for the conference attended by all the levels of judiciary for the State of WA. She was just appointed to the Council for Public Defense Committee for the state of Washington. In addition, Justice Smith has served on several committees for her own Tribe. In her spare time, Justice Smith enjoys travel, photography, her extended family and friends, her pets, camping, and working in her yard.
NW Intertribal Court System Appellate Judges
When NICS receives a new appeal from a tribe, NICS checks that the tribe's judicial eligibility criteria and rules of appellate procedure and assembles a panel (typically three judges) meeting the specific criteria, eligibility requirements and needs of that particular tribe. NICS selects the appellate judges from a roster of approximately forty individuals whom NICS has determined to be generally qualified and eligible to serve as tribal appellate court judges.
NICS' appellate judges have outstanding credentials. Over half of NICS' appellate judges are Native American. Nearly ninety percent are law-trained, including graduates of prestigious law schools such as Harvard, Columbia, Michigan, NYU, Boalt Hall, and the University of Washington. Nearly ninety percent are a member of at least one state bar association, and many are licensed to practice in multiple state and tribal courts. Six of NICS' appellate judges are full-time law professors, nearly a quarter have at least part-time law school teaching experience, and several more have taught law-related courses at the undergraduate level.
Most of NICS' appellate judges have also served as trial and/or appellate judges at other tribes. Several NICS judges have served as Chief Judge for at least one other tribe. Generally, the judges travel to the reservation from which the appeal arises to hear oral argument, although oral argument can also be heard telephonically when travel costs are a concern.