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Opinion: Arvo Mikkanen federal court nomination and the white man
Monday, February 7, 2011
Filed Under: Law | Opinion | Politics

"So guess how many federal judges in Oklahoma, and in the rest of the United States, have ever been of Native American descent? Over the past nine generations since the Trail of Tears started depositing its survivors, the number is two. Let me repeat: Of the thousands of federal judges who have served across the nation over the past 224 years since Article III of the Constitution created our federal judiciary, there have been only two Native American jurists, according to statistics at the Federal Judicial Center, the official source of such biographical information about the federal judiciary.

And one of those two, U.S. District Judge Frank Howell Seay, who sits today with senior status in Oklahoma, didn't even know about his native heritage until he was in his 50s and on the bench (in other words, his nomination and confirmation were based upon the presumption that Seay was a regular ol' white guy). The other Native American federal judge to ever serve on the bench was Billy Burrage, also in Oklahoma, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994. He resigned in 2001. To give you a frame of reference, there have been (just) 170 black federal judges in the nation's history.

I cite these statistics but, candidly, I do not believe them. I think it's more likely than not that other Native Americans over the years have served upon our federal courts and were somehow not counted. Maybe like Judge Seay they just didn't know. Or maybe they knew and didn't want to say. In any event, I want to believe this because if the official record is true it reminds us of yet another scandal perpetrated upon Native Americans by the U.S. government -- one that persists to this day. Two Native American federal judges in all of Oklahoma's history is a travesty upon justice; two in total for the United States is simply disgraceful."

Get the Story:
Andrew Cohen: The Mikkanen Nomination and the White Man (The Atlantic 2/7)

Also Today:
Questions surround judicial nomination of Arvo Mikkanen for Tulsa (The Tulsa World 2/6)

Related Stories:
Obama nominates Arvo Mikkanen, Kiowa, to serve as federal judge (2/3)

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