Crowning Achievements

Jeanne Whiteing’s remarkable career as a Native advocate, Supreme Court pioneer and water rights champion

By Irene Middleman Thomas

In an unexpected twist of honor and recognition, Boulder attorney and esteemed member of the Blackfeet tribe, Jeanne Whiteing, found herself adorned with the prestigious Women’s Stand-Up Headdress. As the former Blackfeet Tribal Attorney, Whiteing’s induction into the revered circle of headdress recipients at the third annual Sah Ko Mii Tah Pii (Land and All Things Living Together) Blackfeet cultural camp on August 8, 2023, was a testament to her exceptional contributions and leadership within the Blackfeet community and, as she notes, the culmination of her accomplished career.

The unique stand-up headdresses, exclusive to the Northern plains, distinguish Blackfeet men and women, featuring feathers that boldly point upwards—an emblem of distinction befitting those recognized as influential leaders.

Believed to have acquired their name from their ashen moccasins, the Blackfeet tribe inhabits the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in northwestern Montana, adjacent to Glacier National Park and the Canadian border. Shortly after her birth, Whiteing’s family moved from the Blackfeet reservation to California. 

At their parents’ encouragements, Whiteing and her four siblings committed themselves to academic pursuits that had remained elusive for their parents.

“I never really felt that I could not do something because I was an Indian woman. I just felt that if I tried hard, I would succeed,” Whiteing reflects. She attributes a significant part of her journey to her high school counselor in Salinas, California, whose encouragement prompted her application to Stanford, where she distinguished herself as one of only three Native American students. Subsequently, she pursued her legal education at the University of California, Berkeley. “We Native American students tended to band together to support one another.”

Upon completing her legal studies, the burgeoning field of Indian law was in its nascent stage, marked by the inception of California Indian Legal Services and subsequently the establishment of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), a national non-profit organization headquartered in Boulder. During her time in law school, Whiteing served as a summer clerk at NARF, and upon graduation, she secured a position with the organization. Her tenure at NARF spanned from 1975 to 1987, during which she held pivotal roles such as Litigation Director and Deputy Director.

She then formed a small firm with other Indian law practitioners in Boulder. “Boulder became a sort of Indian law-focus town, with several firms formed by former NARF attorneys,” she notes, adding that this trend has persisted, with Indian law practices now flourishing across the nation.

Since then, she has dedicated herself to private practice as a tribal attorney, specializing in the intricate realm of Indian water law. Notably, she holds the distinction of being the second among only five Native women who have argued cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, twice on behalf of the Blackfeet Tribe.

“Arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court is probably the pinnacle of any career, and I was fortunate to represent my own tribe in a case before the Supreme Court in the 1980s. It was a case that challenged the authority of the State of Montana to tax the tribe’s share of oil and gas production on the reservation. I was an attorney at NARF at the time and worked on the case with Richard Collins, who has been a long-time professor at CU Law School. We won the case in the Ninth Circuit and in the Supreme Court,” Whiteing explains.

Over several decades, Congress has approved and enacted 35 Indian water rights settlements. Among these, Whiteing has played a crucial role in securing Congressional settlements for three distinct tribes: the Northern Cheyenne Water Compact (1999), Duck Valley Paiute Water Compact (2009) and the Blackfeet Water Compact (2016). The latter, one of the highest U.S. settlements ever at nearly $500 million, marked a historic achievement, granting the Blackfeet tribe control over more cubic feet of water than any other tribe in the U.S. This monumental success, however, was the result of a painstaking process that spanned two decades.

These days, Jeanne Whiteing has largely retired from her legal practice after an extensive career spanning 48 years. “I’m doing a little work for the Northern Cheyenne, finishing up water court adjudication with non-member water rights,” she says. “First, you establish the water rights, then you object to any non-member water rights. That’s what I did for years for the Blackfeet.”

Whiteing is encouraged by the significant strides she has observed in the progress of various tribes. “We went from policies of termination and relocation to a strong focus on strengthening tribal sovereignty and tribal economic development. But there is still a long way to go, and federal policies wax and wane depending on the administration and the courts,” she notes.

“There are still many historical wrongs that have not been fully acknowledged or resolved and that will never be forgotten by Native Americans. Only recently have we seen some acknowledgement of the horrible effects of Indian boarding schools. We are seeing some repatriations of Indian remains and cultural properties. Federal policies have for the most part strongly supported tribal governments. But the loss of land and other historical wrongs will never be forgotten. With strong tribal governments and the help of Indian professionals, including lawyers, I think progress will continue.”