Former Cherokee Nation attorney general Sara Hill confirmed as federal judge

Former Cherokee Nation attorney general Sara Hill will become the first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge in Oklahoma.

The U.S. Senate voted 52-14 Tuesday to confirm Hill, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. President Joe Biden had nominated her in October to serve as a federal district court judge in the Northern District of Oklahoma, based in Tulsa.

Her confirmation comes despite objections from some of Oklahoma’s top Republican leaders. Gov. Kevin Stitt questioned her impartiality, citing her four years as the Cherokee Nation’s top attorney. The tribe and the governor are often at odds, especially in federal courtrooms, where disputes over gaming, taxes and criminal jurisdiction have all landed.

Although Hill, 46, faced scrutiny from some GOP senators during her nomination hearing in November, she had the support of the two Republican senators who stood to make or break her nomination: Oklahoma’s James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin. Opposition from home-state senators can derail judicial appointments. Lankford and Mullin expressed their support for Hill soon after her nomination was announced.

Lankford, the state’s senior U.S. senator, introduced Hill at her hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said she had been selected through a rigorous search process aimed at filling judicial vacancies in the Northern District court system, which was flooded with cases after the landmark 2020 Supreme Court decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma.

The ruling led courts to recognize several tribal reservations, including that of the Cherokee Nation, still existed in eastern Oklahoma. Jurisdiction over some criminal cases involving Native Americans shifted away from the state, and Hill oversaw the transformation of the tribe’s court system to meet the increased demand.

Stitt, who is also a Cherokee Nation citizen, has criticized the fallout of the McGirt ruling. He questioned whether Hill’s appointment was part of a “broader political agenda of the Biden administration to turn half our state into several federally-managed reservations.”

Lankford told the Senate Judiciary Committee he was confident Hill, as well as John Russell, a second judicial nominee from Oklahoma, would uphold their duties to act impartially and adhere to the constitution. He described Hill as “exceptionally impressive.”

“This has to be an agreement between both senators in Oklahoma and the White House,” Lankford said. “As I would tell you, both senators from Oklahoma and the White House don’t agree on a lot of things, but we do have to find common ground to be able to work on things together.”

Biden administration has worked toward more diverse federal bench

Hill’s appointment comes as Biden works to diversify the federal bench. Two-thirds of his 145 judicial appointees have been women, and the same share have identified as non-white, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

Hill is the fourth Native American nominated by Biden to serve as a federal judge and drew “strong support” from the National Congress of American Indians, the largest organization of tribal governments in the U.S.

Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, asked Hill during her nomination hearing what it would mean to become the first Native American woman appointed to the federal bench in Oklahoma. She said she believed courts should reflect the community they serve and noted Oklahoma’s large Native American population.

“It’s a very humbling thought to be the first,” she said.

Hill will replace Claire Eagan, a senior federal district court judge, who is retiring. Russell was also nominated to join the Northern District bench, but the Senate has not yet voted on his appointment.

Hill led the Cherokee Nation’s attorney general office from 2019 until August, when she resigned. She has continued to perform outside legal work for her tribe in recent months, she wrote in a Senate questionnaire.

She previously served as the Cherokee Nation’s secretary of natural resources, as well as in other posts in its attorney general’s office. She also worked briefly as a special assistant prosecutor in the Northern District, she said.

Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. offered his congratulations to Hill in a statement after she was confirmed. "She is a brilliant attorney with a commitment to public service, fairness, justice and the rule of law," Hoskin said.

Molly Young covers Indigenous affairs. Reach her at mollyyoung@gannett.com or 405-347-3534.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Senate confirms first Native woman Sara Hill to federal bench in Oklahoma