Ferguson-Bohnee speaks at Vine Deloria Jr. Distinguished Indigenous Scholars Series

Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, faculty director of the Indian Legal Program, spoke Sept. 28 at the Indigenous Women Activism & Scholarship in the Spirit of Vine Deloria Jr., a seminar presented by the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona in Tuscon.

Ferguson-Bohnee, a member of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian tribe, presented “Voting Rights in Indian Country.”

Ferguson-Bohnee is also director of the College of Law’s Indian Legal Clinic. She has substantial experience in Indian law, election law and policy matters, voting rights, and status clarification of tribes. She has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the Louisiana State Legislature regarding tribal recognition, and has successfully assisted four Louisiana tribes in obtaining state recognition. Ferguson-Bohnee has represented tribal clients in administrative, state, federal, and tribal courts, as well as before state and local governing bodies. She has assisted in complex voting rights litigation on behalf of tribes, and she has drafted state legislative and congressional testimony on behalf of tribes with respect to voting rights’ issues.