"This edition of our review of the Supreme Court nominee shortlist is short (because I’m on my way to a faculty meeting) — and is just two persons, neither of whom is a sitting judge making the objective judgment that much harder. Part I is here.

4. Gov. Jennifer Granholm

We got excited about her a year ago when some excitable people in Lansing heard she was going to D.C. for a high-level, public appearance with President Obama (turned out to be something else related to the auto industry).

Gov. Granholm has been the governor of the State of Michigan for nearly two full terms, and deserves credit for

She has signed the following agreements with Michigan tribes:

* Intergovernmental Climate Accord (6-11-09)
* Tribal Water Accord (2004)
* Economic Accord -SOS-OGC (2005)
* Economic Accord (2006)

And issued an executive directive on inter-governmental relations with Indian tribes in 2004.

5. Harold Honju Koh, Legal Advisor to the Secretary of State

As far as I can tell, he has no Indian law experience at all, save one case — a NAFTA arbitration involving a claim by Six Nations Grand River Enterprises, a Indian-owned enterprise located in Ontario that does business importing smokes into Indian Country. Koh gave the opening argument in the arbitration. His comments are not yet public, though will be eventually. But the gist is that the Obama Administration is committed to tribal sovereignty, except in regards to the exercise of tribal sovereignty to sell tobacco (something observers of the PACT Act already knew)."

Get the Story:
Supreme Court Nominee Shortlist Part 2 — Gov. Jennifer Granholm & Harold Koh (Turtle Talk 4/14)

Related Stories:
Turtle Talk: Indian law and potential Supreme Court picks (4/13)
Justice John Paul Stevens to step down from Supreme Court (4/9)
Stevens plans to leave Supreme Court with Obama in office (4/5)
Tribes working to keep cases away from Supreme Court (3/31)