S.E. RUCKMAN: Wishful thinking: A Native on the SCOTUS

The trouble with wish lists is that they are seldom taken seriously. I remember my own experience looking one over vaguely--picking and choosing what I would bestow rather than taking it as a complete mandate.  Some stuff I would let float and dissipate as merely wishful thinking. But I needed that prodding to get me on the right path to righteous giving.

It is a fact, not just a brilliantly twisted assertion, that we do not have a Supreme Court Justice of American Indian descent.  There’s no real way around this. We want one. We deserve one. And it is fitting to clamor for one.  This is the only thing on my wish list.

Indian Country knows that current justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is contemplating retirement.  Since Bader Ginsburg is the oldest justice who was also diagnosed with her second bout of cancer, it is only logical that she would want to devote time to her family and self.

An impending opening on the country’s high court will give President Obama a chance to make an appointment that will leave his fingerprints on history. Naming someone with Indian descent in this slot would solidify the president’s commitment to Indian Country that extends beyond lip service and listening sessions. Our leaders were told at the last tribal session by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that the president is committed to making “progress” with Indian Country.

Progress could be translated into a lot of things here (seems we still need an interpreter for some things) but a creeping notion of propagated paternalism would recede if an Indian nominee were named.

Presently, a Black justice, Hispanic justice and two female justices occupy the court along with a fair representation of the dominant society. In a country teeming with racial amalgamation, putting a native justice on the Supreme Court panel should not be delegated to twenty years down the political road. We have done the proverbial and literal time in this country (count Day One) to be considered a resilient timbre of the American voice.

The idea may be that we are too small of a minority (I dance with being redundant here) is nonsense. I am told by the U.S. Census that Indian voting statistics are too tiny to calculate.  But they matter to us.  Within our tiny compartment Indians can empathize with the smallest group’s philosophy even if it is drowned in the powerful majority. This kind of focus is fundamental to weaving the welfare of all into consideration. Being small in this instance has an upside.

To say that we lack qualified Indian candidates is a lame argument. We know that since the advent of American Indians into law schools (circa 1970s) some brash and maybe even militant Indian attorneys have mellowed into subtle glowing examples of judicial piety. Failing that, an Indian Supreme Court nominee seems like the next logical step in our societal evolution.  Just think of it. We stand to go from being the Noble Savage to being savagely noble in granting certiorari.

Say we get that Indian Supreme Court nominee. They would need the blessing of the Congressional powers-that-be since one of the handiest tricks to thwarting presidential nominees is to sideline them. That recently happened when Oklahoma’s elected delegates stalled the nomination of a federal judicial candidate who was technically one of their constituents and a member of a federally recognized tribe.

It should further be added that an Indian Supreme Court nominee must have displayed service to his country before tribe. Pushing ahead a nominee who cottons to Indian interests would be a non-sequitur.  We sense that they would need to stand alone before standing for something.

I consider this an exercise in visualizing what kind of American Indian would make a benevolent and wise addition to the Supreme Court of the United States or SCOTUS, if you prefer tags  I did not list a specific person because I do not purport to know who that might be. But I can tell when the weather is right.

Maybe it is just wishful thinking to imagine an American Indian Supreme Court nominee. But least likely things have happened—including a two-term minority president. But I like long shots. In the meantime, I’m gonna hang on to my wish list.

S.E. Ruckman is a citizen of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes in Anadarko, Okla. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma’s School of Journalism and has written for the Tulsa World and is currently a special contributor to the Native American Times. She is a freelance writer who is based in Oklahoma.