Judicial Center
For hundreds of years before new settlers came to the Great Plains and the Black Hills, the Sioux tribes governed themselves as separate nations. Today, in many ways, tribal and non-tribal peoples alike share a common economy and social environment, without benefit of a common legal institution. To promote economic and social well-being among all peoples, leaders of Sioux Tribes in the Dakotas and nearby states have voiced the need for alternative methods of dispute resolution and stronger tribal court systems. The Judicial Center is being built to house, develop and support this new, unprecedented Sioux Nation legal system.
Needed Legal Infrastructure
Tribal and non-tribal observers agree on the following needs:
- Need for recognition by the US Department of Justice, by states and by tribes that commercial and social needs of Tribal People are pushing for legal infrastructure development and support. Recent funding (June 1997) by the Department of Justice of the Dakota Territory Chairmen's Councils petition for planning a tribal supreme court gives evidence of recognition of the point by the Justice Department.
- Need for a hierarchy of courts serving Tribal People, including local courts, appeals courts, and a multi-tribal supreme court.
- Need for the supreme court to reflect a regional base to acknowledge and respect the cultural differences of tribal groups (hence the proposed Sioux Nation Tribal Supreme Court).
- Need for the system to be mutually reinforcing in improving the level of professionalism within the infrastructure (local courts have a professional bond to the supreme court and vice versa).
- A pronounced need for routine resource support for the underlying infrastructure to nurture an effective court system; e.g. clerkships and training, dedicated resources for case law research and monitoring, incorporating digital communication linkages among all segments of the court systems, recruitment and education of future practitioners.
The Wakpa Sica Historical Society, (WSHS) through its board of directors and staff, has been working for several years with the Law Schools at the University of South Dakota (USD) and University of North Dakota (UND) to develop the legal concepts and judicial service aspects of this project. Several well-respected Indian law and tribal judicial system experts with extensive experience in the tribal court and appellate court systems in the region are leading this effort.
The primary legal consultants working on this project are:
| Frank Pommersheim | Professor, USD School of Law |
| John LaVelle | University of New Mexico, School of Law |
| B.J. Jones | UND School of Law; Director, Northern Plains Tribal Judicial Training Institute |
| Tracey Fischer | Sole Practitioner; Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Attorney |
| Dean Barry Vickrey | USD Law School |
| Jay Newberger | Judicial Consultant; Former Director of Court Services for the South Dakota Unified Judicial System |
Jay Newberger will work to blend the structural work of the legal team into an administrative structure with staffing and cost requirements. We are working with AmerINDIAN architects from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to design the spaces the judicial components will require, including a courtroom, administration and conference rooms, judges’ chambers and clerks’ offices, and a law library.
Building on years of legal research our excellent legal team has been assembled to work with the Wakpa Sica Judicial Committee to make operational plans for the Sioux Nation Judicial Support Center, Native American Mediation Center and alternative models for the Sioux Nation Supreme Court. (The 2000 and 2002 USD Reports are available below.)
Our team is working with Tribal Officials, Tribal Judges and individuals throughout the region to advance the ways in which this facility can support tribal courts. Our objective is to expand the level of professional legal infrastructure serving tribal interests by drawing and building on the excellent resources at USD and UND, without duplicating services or competing for scarce funding for tribal court systems.
Understandably, the prospect of establishing a multi-tribal appellate court representing several sovereign tribes is an undertaking of great magnitude and requires sensitivity to concerns of jurisdiction and long-term impact on participating Tribes. It has always been assumed that Tribes would participate in the court voluntarily through an opting-in process. Further, the issues of composition, jurisdiction, relationship to existing tribal courts, qualifications and selection of Justices, and enabling legislation and judicial rules are decisions not appropriately made by the WSHS, but by the tribes themselves. The WSHS is a facilitator of a consensus process and the Reconciliation Place will provide the gathering place for inter-tribal consultation and cooperation.
In 2001 and 2002, the WSHS in Fort Pierre went to four reservation communities to seek the comments and suggestions of individuals and tribes throughout the region (transcripts are available below). This consultation process has been most valuable in helping to determine peoples’ needs and concerns about the judicial components, particularly the Supreme Court, and confirming the value of tribal members working together and with non-tribal groups and individuals in a collective effort. Indeed, each of these sessions was an exercise in the process and dialogue of reconciliation that is at the heart of this effort.