Asserting Tribal Sovereignty in Federal Legislative Developments
Shaun Eastman, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, In-House Legal Counsel Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
Shaun Eastman, Esq. serves as in-house counsel for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, where she is also a member and from the Buffalo Lake District. She is a 2008 graduate of the University of South Dakota School of Law, and is licensed in SWO Tribal Court, State of South Dakota, U.S. District Court District of South Dakota and the United States Tax Court. Shaun was born and raised on the Lake Traverse Reservation graduating from the Tiospa Zina Tribal School. She has spent her post law-school career working for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and previously for the Lower Sioux Indian Community, she also does consulting work for the Tribal Judicial Institute. Shaun is a mother of two adult sons, Elijah and Ethan, and has five fur babies (Lady, Gus, Sookie, Katniss and Amber).
Debra Flute, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, General Legal Counsel Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
Debra Flute is enrolled with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation. She has represented tribes in SD, MN, and MI and is currently General Legal Counsel for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.
Megan LaFromboise, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, In-House Counsel Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
Protecting the Sacred from the Profit: Indigenous Intellectual Property
Professor Sherri Thomas, Taos Pueblo, Director, Law and Indigenous Peoples Program, University of New Mexico School of Law
Professor Sherri Nicole Thomas is Director of the Law and Indigenous Peoples Program (LIPP) and Assistant Director of the Law Library at the University of New Mexico School of Law (UNMSOL), where she also serves as co-Faculty Advisor for the Tribal Law Journal. She teaches required Legal Research courses, created a specialized Indian Law Research course, and regularly leads workshops and presentations on Federal Indian Law, Tribal Law, Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Advocacy. She also teaches Advocacy in the American Indian Law Center’s Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI).
From 2019 to 2024, Professor Thomas served as Associate Dean of Institutional Culture and Equity. She has played leadership roles in major university initiatives focused on equity and policy reform and continues her service on the UNM Policy Review Committee and LEID Council.
Her contributions have been recognized nationally, including the Society of American Archivists’ C.F.W. Coker Award, the American Indian Law Center’s PLSI Champion honor, and acknowledgment by the editors of The Bluebook for her work developing a citation rule for Tribal legal materials.
Professor Thomas is an enrolled member of Taos Pueblo and grew up on the Diné (Navajo) Reservation.
Tribal Courts in the Self-Determination Era
Hon. Leonard Fineday, Secretary/Treasurer, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Leonard “Lenny” Fineday serves as Secretary/Treasurer for the Leech Lake Reservation Business Committee and as a member of the Cass Lake-Bena School Board. He earned his BA in Political Science from Bethel University and his JD from Marquette University Law School.
Lenny has worked with tribal governments for more than 20 years, previously serving as General Counsel to both the Leech Lake Band and the White Earth Nation. He has also served the White Earth Nation as Tribal Court Conflicts Judge and the Red Lake Nation as Juvenile Court Judge for a number of years. He is a former President of the Minnesota Native American Bar Association.
In addition to currently serving in various leadership roles in regional and national intertribal organizations, Lenny also serves on the Minnesota Supreme Court Council on Child Abuse and Maltreatment Prevention, the Minnesota State-Tribal Partnership on Child Protection, and the Minnesota Children’s Justice Initiative Statewide Advisory Board.
Hon. Mary Ringhand, Red Lake Band of Chippewa
Mary Ringhand currently serves as a Judge at Red Lake Nation Tribal Court since 2015. She obtained her juris doctorate degree from University of Minnesota Law School ’93. Currently serves a co-chair of the Tribal Court State Court Forum. Has worked in various positions in Law, Higher Education and Tribal Administration and is actively involved in community. Previous legal work includes interning at the Legal Aid Society in South Minneapolis on public housing and Indian Child Welfare Act issues. Research on tribal matters, Anishinabe Legal Services advocating in social security disability and civil cases. At the State of Minnesota Higher Education Services Office created statewide programming to provide information and access to higher education. She believes strongly in life-long learning and likes being involved in Ojibwemowin language preservation. Becoming a more fluent speaker is a personal goal. Encouraging higher education, community customs and traditions and indigenous values awareness for our people is healing and will increase the strength of our nations into the future.
Hon. Lenor Scheffler Blaeser, Lower Sioux Indian Community
Lenor Scheffler Blaeser continues to serve as the Chief Judge of the Upper Sioux Community Tribal Court. A position she has held for more than 19 years. Blaeser also served as Associate Judge II for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate for four years starting in 2013 and also served two years starting in 2014 as an administrative law judge for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate. Blaeser now serves the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate as an Associate Justice of the Oyate’s Supreme Court. Blaeser continues to serve as an Appellate Justice/Judge to the White Earth Nation and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Appellate Courts. Blaeser has served as in house counsel for multiple tribes including her own tribe the Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota as General Counsel. Blaeser was a partner at Best & Flanagan, LLP and a staff attorney at Dorsey & Whitney, LLP. Blaeser serves as a Trustee for the American Swedish Institute. She previously served as a board member for Minnesota Private Colleges Council, the Division of Indian Work, and the Mitchell Hamline School of Law Board of Trustees, among other non-profit organizations. Blaeser served on the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection as an at-large member, a co-chair of the Tribal Court State Court Forum, and co-lead the Minnesota Tribal Court Judges in Minnesota. Blaeser received her B.A. from St. Olaf College (’79) and J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law (’88). In 1997, she was named one of The Business Journal’s “Forty Under Forty” business leaders. She is also a past recipient of the Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce Turtle Award for her support of the Chamber and its members.
Conversation on Political Status of Tribal Members and Issues of Identification
Professor Angelique EagleWoman, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Director of the NALS Institute, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Professor Angelique W. EagleWoman, (Wambdi A. Was’teWinyan), is a law professor, legal scholar, Chief Justice on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Supreme Court, and has served as a pro tempore Tribal Judge in several other Tribal Court systems. As a practicing lawyer, one of the highlights of her career was to serve as General Counsel for her own Tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton (Dakota) Oyate. She is a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton (Dakota) Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation and has Rosebud Lakota heritage. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Political Science, received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law with distinction, and her L.L.M. in American Indian and Indigenous Law with honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law. As a law professor, she has taught in the areas of Aboriginal Legal Issues, Indigenous Legal Traditions, Tribal Nation Economics & Law, Native American Law, Native American Natural Resources Law, Tribal Code Drafting Clinic, Contracts, The Business of Law, and Civil Procedure. Angelique presents and publishes on topics involving tribal-based economics, Indigenous sovereignty, international Indigenous principles, and the quality of life for Indigenous peoples. She has been the recipient of numerous awards in legal academia and has been a frequent speaker on issues of diversity, inclusion, and professionalism in legal and academic fora. As a law professor at the University of Idaho College of Law, she established the Native American Law Emphasis program and graduated thirty-three law students over seven years. She also formerly served as the dean of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University and was the first Indigenous law dean in Canada. Professor EagleWoman is a citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Oyate and the U.S. She is currently a professor and Director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Professor Kim TallBear, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota
Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) is a newly appointed Professor of American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota. From 2015- August 2025, she was a Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta. Dr. TallBear is the author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. She is a co-founder of the summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) USA and SING Canada. TallBear is a regular media commentator on these topics and more for media outlets in the US, Canada, and globally. You can follow her on Bluesky and read her Substack newsletter, Unsettle: Indigenous affairs, cultural politics & (de)colonization.