Rebecca Tsosie is an American jurist of

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are an Indigenous people of Mexico and Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe, who speak the Yaqui language, a Uto-Aztecan language. Their primary homelands are in Río Yaqui valley in the no ...

descent, specializing in Indian law, Indigenous sovereignty, and environmental justice. She became the Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

in 2022. Tsosie has served as an associate justice on the

Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation (Yavapai: A'ba:ja), formerly the Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache Community of the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe and Indian reservation in Maricopa County, Arizona about northeast of ...

Supreme Court since 2008. She was a judge on the

San Carlos Apache The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation ( Western Apache: Tsékʼáádn), in southeastern Arizona, United States, was established in 1872 as a reservation for the Chiricahua Apache tribe as well as surrounding Yavapai and Apache bands removed fr ...

Court of Appeals from 2007 to 2024.

Life

Rebecca Tsosie, of

descent, grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Her interest in Native American legal issues was sparked during the 1970s after learning about the

Wounded Knee Occupation The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the ...

, a pivotal moment for the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is an Native Americans in the United States, American Indian grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues ...

. Tsosie attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA), where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in American Indian Studies in 1987. She went on to earn her Juris Doctor from the

UCLA School of Law The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. History Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...

in 1990. In 1993, she completed a President's Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA. After graduating from law school, she began her legal career as a law clerk for an

Arizona Supreme Court The Arizona Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Arizona. Sitting in the Supreme Court building in downtown Phoenix, the court consists of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justices. Each justi ...

justice from 1990 to 1991, followed by work as a litigator. She began her academic career at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

(ASU), initially as a visiting professor from 1993 to 1994. She became an associate professor of law in 1994 and was later promoted to full professor in 1998. From 1996 to 2011, she served as executive director of ASU's Indian Legal Program, transforming it into a nationally recognized center for Indian law education and advocacy. Tsosie was assisted in the development of ASU's Master of Laws degree in tribal law, policy, and government, and she played a role in establishing the Indian Legal Clinic. She has held various academic appointments, including the Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar and the Lincoln Professor of Native American Law and Ethics. In 2013, she was named a Regents' Professor at ASU, the university's highest faculty honor. She joined the

in 2022, where she holds the Morris K. Udall Professorship of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law. Tsosie's research focuses on federal Indian law, Indigenous sovereignty,

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

, and

bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

. Tsosie has authoring over 40 law review articles and book chapters on issues related to Indigenous rights and governance. She contributed to landmark casebooks, including ''American Indian Law: Native Nations and the Federal System''. In addition to her academic work, Tsosie has served as an associate justice on the

Supreme Court since September 2008. She was a judge on the

Court of Appeals from September 2007 to April 2024. She has held visiting professorships at institutions such as UCLA and the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, where she held the Daniel and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsosie, Rebecca Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Yaqui descent Academics from Los Angeles 21st-century American women academics American women legal scholars 21st-century American women judges Native American judges Native American women judges Lawyers from Los Angeles UCLA School of Law alumni Arizona State University faculty University of Arizona faculty Native American women academics 21st-century Native American women Law clerks

Life

See also

References