Meet the Judges

Supreme court chief judge Robert Mills

Supreme Court Judge Robert Mills Supreme Court Judge Robert Mills is a graduate of Boston College Law School.  He is a member of the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania bar associations.  Judge Mills is an enrolled member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
 

supreme court Judge Thomas Weathers

Supreme Court Judge Thomas Weathers is an Aleut and an enrolled member of the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska. He has practiced law for over 25 years and has extensive experience in tribal law and tribal courts. Judge Weathers has been a tribal judge for over 10 years and has served as an appellate judge for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe of Washington, the Payallup Tribe of Indians of Washington, the Hoopa Valley Tribe of California, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of Colorado, the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, and the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona. Judge Weathers was included in the Best Lawyers in America in Native American Law. He was conferred with a Juris Doctor from McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific in Sacramento, CA. Judge Weathers has numerous publications and has participated in many presentations.

Supreme court Judge Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Matthew L. M. Fletcher is a professor of law at Michigan State University College of Law and director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center.  He sits as the Chief Justice of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Supreme Court and also sits as an appellate judge for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians, and the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska.  He is a member of the Grand Traverse Band, located in Peshawbestown, Michigan.

He is the reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law of American Indians.  Prof. Fletcher coauthored the sixth edition of Cases and Materials on Federal Indian Law.  He is under contract with West Publishing to write a hornbook on federal Indian law and with the American Bar Association to write a tribal law practice guide.  He also authored American Indian Tribal Law, the first casebook for law students on tribal law; The Return of the Eagle:  The Legal History of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; and American Indian Education:  Counter narratives in Racism, Struggle, and the Law.  He co-edited the Indian Civil Rights Act; and Facing the Future:  The Indian Child Welfare Act.  Prof. Fletcher’s scholarship has been cited two times by the U. S. Supreme Court.  Prof. Fletcher is the primary editor and author of the leading law blog on American Indian law and policy.

Prof. Fletcher graduated from the University of Michigan in 1994 and the University of Michigan Law School in 1997.  He has worked as a staff attorney for four Indian Tribes. 
 

District Court Judge Amanda WhiteEagle

Judge WhiteEagle is an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk nation. She previously worked for the Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Justice as the Attorney General. She is an Associate Judge for the Santee Sioux Nation and the Prairie Island Indian Community. Judge WhiteEagle has won many awards and participated in many tribal activities and Presentations. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School with a JD in 2005.

District Court Judge Jan morris

Honorable Jan W. Morris (Ret.) is Director of the National Tribal Judicial Center at the National Judicial College based in Reno, Nevada. He worked exclusively in tribal courts for over 30 years in criminal, civil, and juvenile tribal law. In addition to his prosecution and defense work, as well as court administration, Judge Morris served for over 20 years as a chief judge, appellate judge and pro tem judge for several tribes including the Gila River Indian Community, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Hualapai Nation, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, and the Ak-Chin Indian Community, among others. Since 1996, he has taught advocacy skills as well as substantive and procedural tribal law specializing in areas involving judicial skills, court clerk skills, trial advocacy skills (prosecution and defense), as well as court management and court administration. Judge Morris joined the faculty of the National Tribal Judicial Center in 2003, and in 2020 received the designation of Distinguished Faculty. Judge Morris also currently serves as an Appellate Justice for the Las Vegas Paiute Tribal Court of Appeals. He is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.