Frank Pommersheim is an American professor, author, and poet specializing in the field of American Indian law. Pommersheim is serving on several tribal appellate courts and serves as the Chief Justice for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals and the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court and is also notable for his involvement in

The Camden 28 The Camden 28 were a group of leftist, Catholic, anti-Vietnam War activists who in 1971 planned and executed a raid on a draft board in Camden, New Jersey, United States. The raid resulted in a high-profile criminal trial of the activists tha ...

Early life and education

Frank Pommersheim was born in New York City but moved to the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in 1974 where he worked for 10 years before joining the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

faculty in 1984. Pommersheim graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts from

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

. He earned a J.D. from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1968 and a

MPA MPA or mPa may refer to: Academia Academic degrees * Master of Performing Arts * Master of Professional Accountancy * Master of Public Administration * Master of Public Affairs Schools * Mesa Preparatory Academy * Morgan Park Academy * Mound ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Pommersheim was employed as the Director of Dakota Plains Legal Service from 1980 to 1983. As a Senior Consumer Law Specialist for the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs from 1971 to 1973 and as an Attorney and Volunteer Leader for the VISTA program in Alaska from 1968 to 1970.

Career

Frank Pommersheim began teaching at the

University of South Dakota School of Law The University of South Dakota School of Law also known as University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law or USD Law in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, is a professional school of the University of South Dakota and the only law school in ...

in 1984 where he is currently a professor specializing in American Indian law. Pommersheim has also taught at the

Lewis & Clark Law School The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon. The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the Asso ...

University of Tulsa College of Law The University of Tulsa College of Law is the law school of the private University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For 2021, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the University of Tulsa College of Law at No. 111 among all law schools in the United S ...

, College of Law in Dublin, Ireland, Sinte Gleska University, and the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. Pommersheim serves on tribal

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

s and is currently the Chief Justice for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals as well as Associate Justice for the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court.

Awards

University of South Dakota Belbas‐Larson Award for Excellence in Teaching, South Dakota Peace and Justice Center Reconciliation Award, and the John Wesley Jackson Award as the Outstanding Professor of Law.

Involvement in the Camden 28

The Camden 28 were an eclectic group of anti-

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

activists. The group included young students, blue-collar workers, four Catholic priests and a Protestant minister. In 1971 they planned and executed a The Camden 28 raided a Camden, New Jersey draft board and destroyed records containing Class 1-A status draft registrants. Pommersheim, who was appropriately 28 at the time, was a member of this group's anti-Vietnam War activists. The group faced felony charges for their actions, but subsequently were acquitted by a jury in 1973. The high-profile trial against the activists that was seen by many as a referendum on the Vietnam War and as an example of successful use of

jury nullification Jury nullification (US/UK), jury equity (UK), or a perverse verdict (UK) occurs when the jury in a criminal trial gives a not guilty verdict despite a defendant having clearly broken the law. The jury's reasons may include the belief that the ...

. In 2007,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

produced The Camden 28 (film) a documentary on the event and the events surrounding it.

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political scien ...

testified at the trial and

Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme ...

William Brennan called the trial, "one of the great trials of the 20th century".

Personal life

Frank married a fellow member of the

Camden 28 The Camden 28 were a group of leftist, Catholic, anti-Vietnam War activists who in 1971 planned and executed a raid on a draft board in Camden, New Jersey, United States. The raid resulted in a high-profile criminal trial of the activists that ...

, Anne Dunham. The couple left the East coast and lived and worked on the

Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as t ...

in South Dakota for 10 years. Anne and Frank later moved to Vermillion, South Dakota. They have three children. Pommersheim is personal friends with

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and a passionate fan of folk music.

Books

* Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes and the Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2009) *Felix Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law (contributor) (2005 Ed.) * Braid of Feathers: American Indian Law and Contemporary Tribal Life (University of California Press 1995; paperback ed. 1997) * Reservation Street Law (with Anita Remerowski) (Sinte Gleska College Press 1979) * Broken Ground and Flowing Waters: An Introductory Text on Rosebud Sioux Tribal Government (Sinte Gleska College Press 1977)

Poetry

* Small is Beautiful: The Buddha Correspondence (Chapbook, Rose Hill Books, 2011) * East of the River: Poems Both Ancient and New (Rose Hills Books, 2008) * Haiku for the Birds (Rose Hill Books, 2002) * Mindfulness and Home: Poetry and Prose from a Prairie Landscape (Rose Hill Books, 1997) * Snaps: Poetry and Prose from a Family Album (Rose Hill Books, 1994)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pommersheim, Frank Living people Columbia Law School alumni American lawyers Harvard Kennedy School alumni 1943 births Scholars of Native American law Colgate University alumni University of Tulsa College of Law faculty Jury nullification