|
Walter R. Echo-Hawk, Jr.
Staff Attorney
Walter is a senior staff attorney in the Boulder office. A lawyer, tribal
judge, scholar and activist, his legal experience includes cases involving
Native American religious freedom, prisoner rights, water rights, treaty rights,
and reburial/repatriation rights.
In 1989, he negotiated a national reburial agreement with the Smithsonian
Institution which was enacted into law. In 1989-90, he helped lead a national
campaign for passage of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation
Act - an important human rights law. In 1994, he represented the Native American
Church of North America to secure passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom
Act Amendments of 1994 to protect religious use of peyote by Indians. Presently
he represents the Klamath Tribes of Oregon to quantify treaty-protected water rights
in Southern Oregon in a highly publicized and controversial set of federal and
state litigation.
A prolific writer, his publications include an award-winning book
Battlefields and Burial Grounds (1994). He has received various awards,
such as, the American Bar Association "Spirit of Excellence Award" for
legal work in the face of adversity and the "Civil Liberties Award" from the ACLU of Oregon for significant contributions in the cause of individual
freedom. Since 1995, Walter has served as a member of the Carter Center's
International Human Rights Council.
He is admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court,
Colorado Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Eighth, Ninth, and
Tenth Circuits, and a host of federal District Courts.
Walter is a member of the Pawnee Nation, belonging to the Kitkahaki Band,
born on the Pawnee reservation in Oklahoma. He received a political science
degree from Oklahoma State University (1970) and law degree from the University of
New Mexico (1973).
Some of Walter's Senate testimony can be viewed at:
|
