Paul Hammel
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — A federal judge from Arizona, a member of the Hopi Tribe, is being honored Monday as the recipient of the 2024 Chief Standing Bear Award for Courage.
U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa has served on the federal bench for the District of Arizona since 2014.
Prior to that, she was special counsel to the president of Arizona State University, an instructor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and a lawyer specializing in federal Indian law.
The award, first given in 2022, was created by the nonprofit Chief Standing Bear Project to promote the life and civil rights legacy of the famed Ponca chief, who won a court ruling that declared that Native Americans were people under U.S. law.
Judge Humetewa is “a shining example of what Native people can accomplish within the legal profession,” according to Katie Brossy, board president of the Chief Standing Bear Project. Like Chief Standing Bear, Humetewav has been a trailblazer within the judicial system, Brossy said.
She was the first Native American woman to serve as a U.S. District Court judge when she was appointed in 2014.
The judge will be honored at an event Monday at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Monday is Indigenous Peoples Day in Nebraska.
This was first published in the Nebraska Examiner
