OXFORD, Miss. — A University of South Dakota law professor
with expertise in Indian Law is slated to deliver a lecture
Nov. 15 on the subject at the University of Mississippi.
Frank Pommersheim’s address “Broken Landscape: Indian
Tribes and the Constitution” is set for 4 p.m. in the
William N. Ethridge Jr. Moot Court Room of the Lamar Law
Center. The presentation and reception to follow are open
to the public.
“I am greatly looking forward to my visit to the University
of Mississippi School of Law and the opportunity to meet
students, faculty and members of the community,”
Pommersheim said. “A key and unresolved question within the
field of Indian law, whether in Mississippi or elsewhere,
is the relationship of Indian tribes within our national
constitutional structure. This is the topic that will be
the focus of my presentation.”
Before he began teaching at South Dakota in 1984,
Pommersheim lived and worked on the Rosebud Sioux
Reservation for 10 years. He serves on a number of tribal
appellate courts throughout Indian country. He is the
associate justice for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Supreme Court and was recently selected chief justice of
the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals.
Law Dean Samuel M. Davis said the law school is delighted
to have someone of Pommersheim’s standing lecturing at the
law school. “With the significant presence of the
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in the state, his topic
is of great interest to all of us,” Davis said. “I look
forward to meeting him and listening to his lecture.”
Originally from New York, Pommersheim received his juris
doctorate from Columbia University and his master’s of
public administration from Harvard University. His
recognition includes the University of South Dakota
Belbas-Larson Award for Excellence in Teaching and the
Distinguished Lecturer for the Northern Plains Indian Law
Center.
Pommersheim has shared his extensive knowledge of Indian
Law through his books, numerous articles and contribution
to the 2005 edition of Felix Cohen’s Handbook of Federal
Indian Law. He is the author of “Braid of Feathers:
American Indian Law & Contemporary Tribal Life” (University
of California Press, 1997) and is working on a book titled
“Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes and the
Constitution.”
For additional information or assistance related to a
disability, contact Connie Lamb at 662-915-6900 or
clamb@olemiss.edu. For more information about the School
of Law, visit