The Institute continues to accomplish its mission statement by developing a track record of sponsoring forums at Mount Rushmore with the latest forum having been held on April 17, 2009.
The one-day forum focused on Native American tribal courts in South Dakota and was co-sponsored by the Institute, The University of South Dakota School of Law, and the Black Hills State University Center for Indian Studies.
The title of the forum was Tribal Courts: Accomplishments, Issues, and Challenges and was moderated by John Glover, director of the Center for American Indian Studies at Black Hills State University and associate dean for American Indian Law Programs at The University of South Dakota School of Law. The distinguished panel included Frank Pommersheim, professor of law at The University of South Dakota and chief justice at the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals and the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court; Cheryl Three Stars Valandra, associate justice for the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Supreme Court and supervising attorney, Indian Land Tenure Foundation Project at Dakota Plains Legal Services, Mission, SD; Sherman Marshall, Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court Judge; and Joe Lux, attorney with Costello, Porter, Hill, Heisterkamp, Bushnell & Carpenter, LLP.