[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 53 (Monday, March 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING JUSTICE LORENE B. FERGUSON

  Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, it is an honor to recognize the lifetime 
of service and historic contributions of Navajo Nation Supreme Court 
Justice Lorene B. Ferguson, who died on March 1, 2021, with her 
daughters at her bedside, from complications of COVID-19.
  Justice Ferguson was the first woman justice on the Navajo Nation 
Supreme Court. In 2001, she was nominated to serve as Associate Justice 
by President Kelsey Begaye and was confirmed by the Navajo Nation 
Council. She served as an Associate Justice on the Navajo Nation 
Supreme Court until 2007, including as Acting Chief Justice from 2004 
to 2005.
  Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Ferguson 
served as a Navajo circuit judge in the Kayenta District Court and as a 
Navajo Tribal Court judge in the Shiprock, To'hajiilee, Ramah, and 
Alamo Courts. She also served for 8 years as a staff attorney at the 
Navajo Nation Department of Justice, where she drafted the first Navajo 
Election Code and Navajo scholarship policy for the Department of 
Education.
  Justice Ferguson was born in the Sawmill, Ni'ii Ji'ih, Chapter of the 
Navajo Nation in the Fort Defiance Agency in Arizona. She graduated 
from Fort Lewis College in 1965. She worked in community development, 
welfare rights, and Native American education as a Head Start teacher 
and Indian education training technician. She began her legal career 
after graduating from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 
1983.
  Justice Ferguson served as a mentor and role model for numerous 
Navajo attorneys and law clerks. She was a strong advocate for 
education and Tribal traditional law. She served as a judicial 
education faculty member for the National Judicial College at the 
University of Nevada in Reno and was the first Tribal judge to serve as 
a judge in residence at the University of Tulsa School of Law. She 
frequently spoke at law schools around the country to educate students 
and faculty on the importance of Tribal law.
  Justice Ferguson was also a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and 
matriarch for her family. My thoughts are with all of her loved ones 
and all those who were touched by her life during this time of loss.

                          ____________________