Tribal judge aims to Indigenize the bench

Megan Treuer’s mentor was a revolutionary trailblazer known to her simply as “Mom.”

“She was the second Native American attorney in the state of Minnesota,” Treuer said of Margaret Seelye Treuer. “She was appointed as a federal magistrate in 1982. So she’s the first female Native American judge in the country.”

Like mother, like daughter. Treuer has also donned the robes and wielded the gavel. For 12 years, she’s been a tribal court judge for the Leech Lake and Bois Forte Bands of Ojibwe and the White Earth Nation. Before that, in 2005, she worked as an attorney for Anishinabe Legal Services, representing Native people from the Leech Lake and Red Lake Indian reservations. She then joined the Regional Native Public Defense Corporation in 2007, a nonprofit that represents tribal members from across northern Minnesota. In 2009, she became the RNPDC’s executive director.

Early influences

As a child, Megan Treuer remembers her mother doing legal work, sometimes in a home office. This included getting the tribal court system established at Leech Lake, an effort built on the backs of activists and advocates who had occupied federal buildings in the 1970s while calling for the strengthening of the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the United States.

And then there were the things she observed outside of her home. One incident happened while a young Megan Treuer was riding through Bemidji one day with her family. The city was near three of Minnesota’s tribal reservations: White Earth, Red Lake and Leech Lake.

Their car passed another one with Red Lake license plates, pulled over on the side of the highway with multiple police vehicles surrounding it.

“All the cop cars had pulled them over, and there’s this little grandma,” recalls Treuer. “She was just crying her eyes out as they were dragging the guy off. I was feeling that something wasn’t right, and I wanted to advocate for my community since then.”

Treuer’s father, Robert, also inspired her. He was an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust and was passionate about tackling injustice.

“Coming from that legacy, I feel a responsibility to advocate and do what I can to make the world a better place,” said Treuer. “Restore humanity to the world.”

Rising in the ranks of tribal justice

In 2013, after several years heading the RNPDC, opportunity knocked.

“The associate judge from my tribe, Korey Wahwassuck, was leaving to go to a judicial appointment in the state court,” explained Treuer. And so needing a replacement, the chief judge called her and asked if she’d apply.

“She called me and I said, ‘Well, I’m only 35. Do you think I’m old enough and wise enough?’ And she kind of chuckled and said, ‘Yep.’”

For Wahwassuck, picking Treuer was an easy choice. She saw qualities in Treuer that would help her rule from the bench effectively.

“Megan listens. Not just as a courtesy, but to truly understand and to help people break out of destructive cycles,” Wahwassuck told Buffalo’s Fire. She said Treuer’s steady, calm presence and genuineness impressed upon her early. “We worked side by side on the Joint Jurisdiction Wellness Courts, and I saw countless times where her insights and compassion for people helped them turn the corner in their lives.”

Treuer said she’s always been called to serve the Leech Lake community as an advocate.

“I’m very passionate in advocating for my people. Any people really that aren’t able to advocate for themselves.”

Treuer successfully advocated for herself this past year, making her case to the Bush Foundation that she was deserving of one of 29 fellowships granted for 2025. She’ll use her two years in the program to reduce her judicial caseload and focus on personal renewal and betterment. She also plans to work on infusing more cultural and spiritual aspects to the tribal court system.

“I’m going to cut my judicial caseload in half basically and take Ojibwe courses,” she explained. “And I’m really going to make focusing on the language my top priority during the fellowship, and try to learn as much as I possibly can in two years.”

Furthermore, Treuer plans to spend part of her fellowship visiting different Indigenous scholars, spiritual leaders and mentors that have worked in the area of Indigenous justice. This could include going to see the Maori people of New Zealand, but Treuer says travel remains undecided at this point. All of this is intended to make her a stronger and more culturally grounded judge for her people.

“I definitely believe her Bush Fellowship goals will improve her leadership skills and help her on the path of leading other Anishinaabe tribal judges in revitalizing and rekindling Anishinaabe justice traditions,” Kekek Stark told Buffalo’s Fire. An associate professor at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law in Missoula, Montana, Stark has known Treuer for 20 years, since they both attended the Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“I think Megan consistently utilizes compassion, empathy and cultural awareness in her role as a tribal judge,” Stark said. He believes Treuer will achieve her goals through the utilization of language, history and culture in the articulation of tribal law.

“Being a judge is hard work, especially when presiding over cases in your own community,” adds Wahwassuck. “It takes its toll on the mind, body and spirit. Megan’s work will make her a better leader because her work will strengthen her even more personally and professionally. We will all learn from Megan’s journey and be better for it as individuals and in our own work.”

While Treuer regards Wahwassuck as an inspiration and supporter, that appreciation goes both ways.

“We all need touchstones so we can do our best in all areas of our lives,” Wahwassuck said. “I’ve told people that Megan is my “rock.” I draw strength from her calm, steady presence, and she inspires me to dive deep and to never give up.”

Both of Treuer’s parents have died in the past decade. Robert Treuer in 2016, Margaret Seelye Treuer in 2020. While they aren’t here to see their daughter’s self-empowerment as a Bush Fellow, Treuer says both — especially her mother — would be proud.

“I’m always hearing her voice,” she said, reflecting on how the elder Treuer helped create the Leech Lake judicial system from the ground up. She feels that today’s young Native people need to appreciate the history of self-determination and activism that her mother’s generation used to make gains for the tribe.

“I feel like I have a responsibility to document for the future generations what they had to go through.”

Treuer says her people were fortunate enough to preserve the language and culture as much as they have, despite colonization and the boarding school system that was intended to assimilate tribes. She feels that her time as a Bush Fellow will ultimately help the Leech Lake court system “level up.” She will also continue her duties as Chief Judge for the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe.

“I’m Minnesota’s first second-generation Native American attorney, so I’m really blessed in that way,” said Treuer. “And I didn’t have to look very far. My mother and I, we’re different personalities and definitely different skill sets, but I just followed her career.”