By Procopio Associate Anna Hohag
History was made yesterday, May 18, 2022, as the United States Senate voted 51-45 to confirm current Superior Court Judge Sunshine Sykes to serve as a federal district court judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Judge Sunshine Sykes (Diné) is a citizen of the Navajo Nation with deeps roots serving Indian Country and California, including serving in numerous roles early in her legal career for California Indian Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm advocating for Tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and Native rights. Since 2013, Judge Sykes has served as Riverside Superior Court judge in Riverside, CA, where she will maintain her federal court chambers.
The United States District Court for the Central District of California is a federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California. It also serves as a federal forum for dozens of tribes located in Southern and Central California, a state with one of the largest populations of Native Americans and home to over 109 federally-recognized tribes. While Native Americans (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians) make up about 2.9 percent of the population in the United States, they comprise of only about 0.2 percent of the more than 1.2 million attorneys in the United States. As a result, this has led to the severe invisibility of Native American attorneys and experiences in the legal profession, an issue being studied and addressed by the National Native American Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Judge Sykes will now join the ranks alongside only four other active Native American judges — all women — serving on the federal bench.
Procopio has followed Judge Sykes’ career for many years and we are proud to recognize and celebrate this monumental achievement for Judge Sykes along with all of Indian Country and the California legal community! We commend President Biden on nominating Judge Sykes and the U.S. Senate for confirming her historic selection. As a member of our Native American Practice Group along with other Native American women attorneys, I am proud of our strong Native women presence and leadership— the future is bright. Future generations will see leaders like Judge Sykes in these positions of impact – making the legal profession and judicial system more respectable, reliable, and attainable for all, including our nation’s first peoples.
Anna Hohag is a citizen of the Bishop Paiute Tribe and a member of Procopio’s Native American Practice Group. Her practice primarily focuses on advising Tribal governments and Tribal entities on a variety of issues including Tribal law and policy development, intergovernmental agreements, board governance, cultural and natural resources, and economic development.
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