{"id":19166,"date":"2021-12-15T11:43:14","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T16:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=19166"},"modified":"2021-12-17T11:47:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T16:47:23","slug":"president-biden-nominates-another-native-woman-to-federal-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/12\/15\/president-biden-nominates-another-native-woman-to-federal-bench\/","title":{"rendered":"President Biden nominates another Native woman to federal bench"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sunshine<\/a><\/div>
Sunshine Suzanne Sykes. Photo courtesy Fair Housing Council of Riverside County<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n
President Biden nominates another Native woman to federal bench<\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, December 15, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nPresident Joe Biden continues to make history with his judicial nominations, announcing another Native woman to serve on the federal bench.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe nomination of Sunshine Suzanne Sykes, who is a citizen of the Navajo Nation<\/a>, is historic in more ways than one. She would be the first Navajo citizen in the federal judiciary and the first Native person to serve on the federal bench in California, the state with the largest number of American Indians and Alaska Natives.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nShould she be confirmed by the U.S. Senate<\/a>, Sykes would be just the fifth Native federal judge actively serving in the country. And she’s only the third Native woman in U.S. history to be chosen for the bench.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThese choices also continue to fulfill the President\u2019s promise to ensure that the nation\u2019s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country \u2014 both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,\u201d the White House said on Wednesday<\/a> as Sykes and eight other nominees were announced.\r\n

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Stanford Lawyer Magazine: “Taking the Stand: Judge Sunshine Sykes”<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nSykes comes to the stage with significant experience in law and public policy. She currently serves as a judge for the Superior Court of Riverside County<\/a>, home to a large number of tribes in southern California. She is the first Native judge in the county’s history<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cRiverside has one of the largest Native communities in the state, with something like 17 tribes, and not one Native judge, so the bench was not reflecting the community,\u201d Sykes told Stanford Lawyer Magazine<\/a>, explaining why she set her sights on serving the county. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nBefore becoming a judge, Sykes worked as an attorney for the county, handling juvenile dependency issues and matters affecting abused and neglected children. Her work helped shape her desire to ensure that judges understand key federal laws like the Indian Child Welfare Act<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWhen I was a lawyer working with juveniles, I saw a lot of instances across the state where judges didn\u2019t really understand the Indian Child Welfare Act and the reasons behind its passing in Congress in the 1970s,\u201d Sykes told the magazine of Stanford Law School, where she earned her J.D. \u201cThey didn\u2019t really understand Native culture.\u201d\r\n

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Posted by The Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, Inc.<\/a> on Monday, April 7, 2014<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\r\n
In April 2014, Judge Sunshine Suzanne Sykes, second from left, was honored by the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County as one of the organization’s “Champions for Justice” in the community.\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFamily history also plays a big part in Sykes’s advocacy. She told Stanford Lawyer Magazine that her Navajo grandparents were removed from their homes on the Navajo Nation and sent hundreds of miles away to the Sherman Institute<\/a> in Riverside County. The facility, now known as the Sherman Indian High School<\/a>, continues to be operated by the Bureau of Indian Education<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cBoth of my grandparents were taken from the Navajo Reservation and put into the Sherman school,\u201d Sykes recalled. \u201cAll the children were forced to cut their hair and wear non-traditional clothes, and they weren\u2019t allowed to speak their traditional languages or practice their traditional ceremonies.\u201d \r\n

<\/p>\r\nAccording to the magazine profile, Sykes was born on the Arizona portion<\/a> of the Navajo Nation. She spent her early years there and in a border town on the New Mexico side of the reservation. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nSykes also has a long connection to California, where she attended Stanford University as an undergraduate prior to law school. She was an intern at California Indian Legal Services<\/a> and later became a staff attorney there, according to biographical information provided by the White House.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nSykes also interned at DNA People\u2019s Legal Services<\/a>, which is based on the Navajo Nation. The non-profit provides free civil legal services to low-income people on the largest reservation in the United States and on other reservations in the southwest.\r\n

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