MAY 1, 2002
Smoke Signals 7
Grand Ronde Tribe Establishes Appeals Court
curring, the decision cast down by the appeals
court is final, and stands forever.
In general, most any legal system could be
called questionable when lacking an appeals pro
cess, which explains why English and Fasana
worked arduously to put one in place. There were
other reasons, though. Namely, cases were
mounting up to a ridiculous number. "Astro
nomical," in the words of Fasana. Of these, the
bulk was enrollment cases, or suits wherein ap
plicants were denied admission into CTGR as
Tribal members. The other cases involved em
ployment. With that said, Fasana speculated
that some appeals might take upwards of a year
to consider, even with three judges.
A year1? Well, nobody said things were going
to be quicker.
"The appeals process has the potential to be
very time-consuming and lengthy," Fasana
added. "It can be slow."
Judge English felt that because the Tribe is a
young sovereign nation and it's Tribal Court a
fledgling one, the court needed a back up sys
tem in place. She
was the one charged
with setting the pre
cedents. For
posterity's sake, that
was not a job she felt
entirely comfortable
doing alone.
"I think no matter
what, it's always bet
ter to have four pairs
of eyes looking at
the law instead of
one," she explained.
"We're making some
important laws at the Tribe right now, laws that
are sooo important to the Tribes' future. The
more people who get to look, the more perspec
tive you get."
English's support never waned even though
basically what the appeals court will do is second-guess
her decisions. No judge, she said, likes
to have a decision overturned, including her.
And in an effort to divest herself of personal in
terest she has even avoided getting to know the
three new appointees. All this, she said, is for
the better of the Tribe, which so far has achieved
respectability on multiple levels.
"Grand Ronde is well-known around the coun
try," she said. "I've been to judicial reviews and
they know about us. Our decisions are often re
ferred to by other Tribes."
Three new judges, all accomplished, should help
sustain that healthy reputation. Chief Judge Don
Costello already functions as the Chief Judge of
the Coquille Tribal Court. Robert Miller serves
as an Assistant Professor of Law at the North
western School of Law at Lewis & Clark College.
One of his classes is actually Indian Law and he
himself is an enrolled member of the Eastern
Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, for the record. The
third, David Thompson specializes in appellate law
and is a licensed attorney in Portland. Looking
at Costello, Miller, and Thompson, what they did
compile was a balanced court with diverse back
grounds and personalities.
Here is some background information on each
of the Appellate Judges:
Chief Justice Don Owen Costello
It is Fat Tuesday, a.k.a. Mardi Gras as I sit
here and type away. Undeniably I can't not point
out the fact that Don Costello is a Chief Justice,
and has been for a number of Tribes through
out Oregon, including Warm Springs, Burns
Paiute, Coquille, and was at one point the Act
ing Judge for CTGR. All in all, add that he is an
accomplished accordion player whose favorite is
Louisiana zydeco great Clifton Chenier, the
musical peers of whom included such wild New
Orleans acts like Professor Longhair, the Wild
Magnolias, and The Mardi Gras Indians. You
can see why I have to make the connection. Big
Chief, indeed.
Costello plays zydeco, Irish folk music and if
pushed "can play a Strauss Waltz." He also plays
the African hand drums.
Costello tries his darndest to dispel the stereo
type of stuffy, stiff-collared judge and performs
admirably. His college days were spent at the
University of California at Berkeley, during the
late 1960's.
"I was an athlete (on the rowing team) during
that time, so I didn't exactly participate in 'free
love'," he told me over the phone,, from his farm.
"But I did have fun. Those were good times
around there, back then."
After graduating with a Bachelor's of Arts de
gree in Anthropology in 1970, Costello acted
briefly as a physical education instructor, row
ing crew coach actually, at the University of Or
egon before enrolling in the Northwest College
of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland.
Once finished with his law degree in 1976,
Costello began a career as a private practitioner
the following year. His first stab in judicial ca
pacities began in 1984 and it soon became a ca
reer. First he was a Municipal Court Judge in
Redmond, then Chief Judge of the Burns Paiute.
Costello appears qualified to be the Tribe's first
ever Chief Justice in the newly founded Appeals
Court.
"I think this is an honor," he said. "Grand
Ronde has an excellent court system and a fine
judge in Katherine English. We're actually go
ing to be in a pioneering role and I'm excited to
be given this chance."
Like the other two, Costello will only come over
when needed from his farm near Smith Rock.
There he lives with his wife Denissia, of Costa
Rican origins, and maintains 10 acres of land.
Robert Miller
Robert Miller went from being a used car sales
man to being a lawman, which for some might
be interpreted as both ends of the spectrum. By
lawman I don't mean of the Wyatt Earp variety.
No, I mean a man that in his own words is "deeply
devoted to the law."
Miller's parents were part of the westward mi
gration during the 1940's, his Shawnee mother
moving west to find work in a Portland shipyard,
his father a Missouri man. Miller never had rea
son to leave the Pacific Northwest, and has called
Portland home for life.
Operating in the family business, first clean
ing used cars and then managing, Miller got a
late start on the college track. In 1988 he re
ceived his Bachelor's of Science Degree in Lib
eral Arts from Eastern Oregon State College (now
Eastern Oregon University). He entered law
school at the age of 41 and soon settled into a
law career.
Graduating from Lewis & Clark's law school
in 1991, he followed that by clerking for the
Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Miller also practiced law at one point, from 1992
to 1995 working as an attorney at the Stoel Rives
law firm in Portland. Since 1994, he has served
as an appellate judge for a handful of Tribes in
the region.
But Miller's true calling came with his move to
Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, where he prac
ticed Indian law and represented Tribal clients
in federal and state court litigation. From 1996
to 1999 his focus was primarily Tribal housing
issues and he had a notable part in implement
ing the Native American Housing Assistance and
Self-Determination Act.
In 1999, Miller joined the Northwestern
School of Law as a full-time professor and has
taught law classes at both Lewis & Clark and
Portland State University. Miller also teaches
at the Hatfield Institute for Tribal Government
through PSU.
But there is more to Bob Miller than just the
law, like two daughters for example, or an avid
devotion to soccer. And then there's the travel
ing. "Well, let's see, I've been to Europe, Mexico. . ."
he told me, listing the countries. "I rented a car
in Turkey, near Izmir, and drove up the coast
to Istanbul. I also traveled through Greece."
Nothing quite compares with Costa Rica, his
most recent adventure. Miller has learned to
appreciate eco-tourism, that sect of vacationing
of which the Central American country is king.
There earlier in the year, he honed his develop
ing skills at bird watching. He also witnessed
first-hand the legendary return of the enormous
leatherback turtle that combs the coast looking
for a nice haven to lay
eggs, usually crawling up
from the water during the
late hours.
"That was just magnifi
cent," he said. "The
turtle was in a
i. i j ii
r- i irance...you couia waiK
I right up to it."
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uuviu x uumpsuii
Those who think that a
political science degree
can lead to anything
would have a compelling
case for their argument in
David Thompson. Though only 45 years of age,
he got his feet wet in the legal field quite early.
Acquiring a Bachelor's degree in Political Sci
ence from Stanford University in 1978, Thomp
son wasted no time in hitting the books. Enroll
ing in the University of Utah College of Law
after his undergraduate career, he left that
school law-licensed in 1983 and began a long
and noted career as an attorney specializing in
appellate law.
The call from Grand Ronde found Thompson
in the eighteenth year of law practice, with ex
perience in capital murder, criminal, civil rights
and contract dispute cases.
Thompson has earned law licenses in Oregon,
Colorado and Utah. He has also called his legal
battlefield appellate courts in Oregon and Utah,
the Oregon Department of Justice, the Utah At
torney General's Office, the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and
yes, the United States Supreme Court.
You'd think a man with such impressive cre
dentials would have little time for anything else,
and in a way, he doesn't. Though married, liv
ing in the Hawthorne District of Portland, Th
ompson and his wife have no children, yet. But
he does have a greyhound, a prize garden and a
proclivity for wading into high mountain streams
with a supple rod and dancing a feathery lure
across the water's surface, i.e. fly-fishing.
"I love to fly-fish when I can, usually hitting
up the Deschutes," he said.
Like any other fly fisherman, he can't ignore
the lure of Montana, a state he spends increas
ingly more time in.
"I caught a seven pound brown trout once,"
he labeled a prize catch. "And if you know fish,
then you know that's pretty big for them."
I wouldn't doubt Thompson's knowledge of
weight. He also gardens, not pansies and daisies,
but manly gardening tomatoes, squash, beans
and 100-pound pumpkins. Seriously, 100 pounds.
"My neighbor and I have a contest," he said.
"Every year we always see who can grow the
bigger pumpkin. Some people can turn out 200
or 300 pounders."
Not that they diminish what sprouts in his
garden, but Thompson humbly knows his place.