FMYN SUPREME COURT JUSTICES SWORN IN
By Harrison J. Bahe
On February 13th, 2025, at the Fort McDowell Public Safety Building, Honorable Judge Kerry G. Passey swore in three new Supreme Court Justices for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. The event began with Judge Passey recognizing the people in attendance and was followed by an opening prayer by former FMYN President Raphael Bear. Current FMYN President Sandra Pattea gave a speech about the courts and the part they played in the history of the nation. She acknowledged how her father, the late Dr. Clinton Pattea, blessed Justices still present to this day. Before each of the Justices were sworn in, they were introduced to the public. The three new Supreme Court Justices are Chief Justice Paul Bender, Associate Justice Rebecca Tsosie, and newly appointed Associate Justice Joseph Austin.
Chief Justice Paul Bender attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York where he was a high school classmate of future Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Bender received both his bachelor’s and J.D. degrees from Harvard University. After law school Justice Bender clerked for Judge Learned Hand of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Felix Frankfurter of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1959 term. After his clerkships, Justice Bender was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School for twenty years, before becoming dean of the Arizona State University College of Law from 1984-1989. He served as an Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General Archibald Cox, where he argued several notable cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also worked as General Counsel to the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography from 1968-1970. In 1993, during the Bill Clinton administration, Justice Bender was appointed Deputy Solicitor General by Drew Days. He continues to teach courses in Constitutional Law at ASU. He has been the Chief Justice of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Supreme Court since 1998.
Associate Justice Rebecca Tsosie is a Regents Professor at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. Justice Tsosie, who is of Yaqui descent is a faculty member for the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the Law School at the University of Arizona and is widely known for her work in the fields of Federal Indian Law and Indigenous people’s human rights. Before joining the U of A faculty, Justice Tsosie was a Reagent’s Professor and Vice Provost for the Inclusion and Community Engagement at Arizona State University. Justice Tsosie was the first faculty Executive Director for ASU’s Indian Legal Program and served in that position for 15 years. She has published widely on sovereignty, self-determination, cultural pluralism, environment policy, and cultural rights. She teaches in areas of Federal Indian Law, Property, Constitutional LAw, Critical Race Theory, and Cultural Resource Law presently at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. She graduated with her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and is admitted to practice in Arizona and California. She has served on our Supreme Court since 2008 and has also served on the San Carlos Apache Court of Appeals since 2007.
Newly appointed Associate Justice Joseph Austin is a member of the Navajo Nation and attorney with extensive experience in education in tribal and federal Indian Law. He has practice in Flandreu Santee Sioux Tribe, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation, and the Navajo Nation. He has experience handling civil and criminal cases at the trial and appellate levels and has litigated cases as both prosecutor and defense attorney. He has expertise in the areas of gaming law, family law, probate law, leasing law on reservations, employment law, domestic violence, business, corporate, and contract law. He received his Bachelor’s and J.D. Degrees from the University of Arizona. He is in the last semester of a joint Master of Laws and Doctor of Laws program while finishing his dissertation at the James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona. Justice Austin has been appointed to the SRPMIC Court of Appeals, Tunica Biloxi Tribe Court of Appeals and most recently by our tribal council to the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Supreme Court.
The program concluded with a blessing by Raphael Bear who bestowed upon the newly sworn in Supreme Court Justices creosote bushes doused in water. The Fort McDowell Yavapai people wish the Supreme Court Justices the best of luck in all their future endeavors.
