Shawna Baker

{{ infobox officeholder

| office = Justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court

| appointer = Chuck Hoskin Jr.

| term_start = August 2020

| term_end = February 1, 2025

| predecessor = Lynn Burris

| successor = TBD

| citizenship = American
Cherokee Nation

}}

Shawna S. Baker, a Native American lawyer, citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is the third woman and the first out, two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer person (LGBTQ+) to be appointed a justice on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court. Baker is also on the Chuck Hoskin Jr., Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Domestic Violence Task Force which was launched in 2021,{{Cite news |date=17 November 2021 |title=Cherokee Nation Launches Task Force on Domestic Violence |work=Eastern Times |pages=4}} and on the Cherokee Nation Health Services’ Ending the HIV Epidemic Committee. She is an advisor to Indian Health Services and on the Ending the HIV Epidemic Committee in Northwest Portland, Oregon, USA. Other roles include being a distinguished alumna in residence at the University of Tulsa College of Law, managing attorney of Family Legacy and Wealth Counsel, PLLC, and a trustee of Oklahomans for Equality in Tulsa, Oklahoma.{{Cite web |title=Justice Shawna Baker on Major Lindsey Africa Podcast |url=https://natlawreview.com/article/bouncing-back-justice-shawna-baker-podcast |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=natlawreview.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |author=Staff REPORTS |date=2020-09-09 |title=Baker sworn in as Supreme Court justice |url=https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/news/baker-sworn-in-as-supreme-court-justice/article_fd3ae8de-05b6-5e7f-ab8f-328640e3aef5.html |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=cherokeephoenix.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Bouncing Back |url=https://www.mlaglobal.com/en-gb/insights/podcasts/bouncing-back |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.mlaglobal.com |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Shawna Baker LLM ’15 becomes a Supreme Court Justice for the Cherokee Nation {{!}} NYU School of Law |url=https://www.law.nyu.edu/news/shawna-baker-cherokee-nation-supreme-court-tax-llm |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.law.nyu.edu}}{{Cite web |title=Shawna S Baker Esq {{!}} Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Justice {{!}} Tulsa OK |url=http://www.shawnasbaker.com/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=Family Legacy and Wealth Counsel |language=en-US}}

Education and career

Baker was raised in Westville, Oklahoma, near the border with Arkansas within the Cherokee Nation Reservation.{{Cite web |last=coordinator |first=web |date=2022-06-21 |title=TU Law alumna and Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice to teach at alma mater |url=https://utulsa.edu/news/shawna-baker-cherokee-nation-alumna/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=The University of Tulsa |language=en-US}} She grew up during the decade (1985-1995) that Wilma Mankiller served as the first woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.{{Cite web |last=Communications |first=NYU Web |title=Shawna Baker (LAW '15) |url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/publications/alumni-magazine/Winter-2023/profiles1/Baker.html |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.nyu.edu |language=en}} Baker was the first person in her family to go to college, choosing a biology major at the nearest university to her home,{{Cite web |title=Engagement & Outreach {{!}} United States Tax Court |url=https://www.ustaxcourt.gov/engagement_outreach.html#MEDIA8 |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.ustaxcourt.gov}} and earned a bachelor's degree from John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. In her first year there Baker watched a film called The Ghosts of Mississippi about the pursuit of justice by the family of civil rights activist Medgar Evers and the trial and conviction of his murderer, Byron De La Beckwith. The film was a catalyst for Baker to change her studies from science to law. Gaining a scholarship to attend the University of Tulsa, she majored in law, but also continued with science courses. In 2002, Baker received both a master's degree in biological science and a law degree with highest honor in their joint degree program. After graduating, she worked for three years at Doerner, Saunders, Daniel & Anderson, an Oklahoma firm specializing in family law. While there she was awarded the Martin Fellows Smith Award.{{Cite news |title=Shawna Baker - Tulsa, OK Estate Planning and Business Attorney |url=https://familylegacywealthcounsel.com/attorneys/shawna-baker-2/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |work=Family Legacy and Wealth Counsel |language=en-US}} In 2007, she received a master's in law from Columbia University.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Journal Record |date=2020-09-03 |title=Shawna Baker sworn in as Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice {{!}} The Journal Record |url=https://journalrecord.com/2020/09/shawna-baker-sworn-in-as-cherokee-nation-supreme-court-justice/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |language=en-US}} She was recognized as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar{{Cite web |title=Academic Honors and Prizes |url=https://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/registration-services/academic-honors-and-prizes |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=www.law.columbia.edu |language=en}} and a member of Columbia's Journal of Gender and Law.{{Cite web |title=Hon. Shawna S. Baker |url=https://lgbtqbar.org/annual/conference-speakers/hon-shawna-s-baker/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=Lavender Law |language=en-US}}

Baker then took a position as an assistant professor of law at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2009, she was recognized as the Outstanding Faculty Member of the year by the James Weldon Johnson Chapter of the National Black Law Students Association. After two years at Florida Coastal, Baker accepted a five-year contract to assist with the creation of a private charitable foundation. While working full-time, in the fall of 2013, she enrolled at New York University's School of Law. She flew to and from New York each week for four semesters and graduated with a Master of Laws (LL.M) in taxation in 2015. Later that year she founded her own estate planning practice, Family Legacy & Wealth Counsel, PLLC. Baker has published in the field of estate planning as it relates to same sex couples.{{Cite journal |last=Quinn |first=Camille |last2=Baker |first2=Shawna |date=2004 |title=Essential Estate Planning for the Constitutionally Unrecognized Families in Oklahoma: Same-Sex Couples. |url=https://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2485&context=tlr |journal=Tulsa Law Review |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=479–525}}{{Cite journal |last=Lacey |first=Linda |last2=Blair |first2=Marianne |title=Symposium Foreword: Coping with the Aftermath of Victory |journal=Tulsa Law Review |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=378}}

After completing her education, Baker returned to Oklahoma and became involved with the government of the Cherokee Nation. Her first nomination to the bench of the Cherokee Supreme Court was unsuccessful. She was asked by the then recently elected Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., to serve on the Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission.{{Cite news |date=27 November 2019 |title=Tribal Council approves more funding to teach Cherokee history culture in area schools |work=Sequoyah County Times |pages=b6}} In 2020, after some months of work as a gaming commissioner, Baker was nominated again to the court and was sworn in as a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice. She was the third woman to be on the bench after Stacy L. Leeds, who was appointed in 2002, and the late Angela Barker-Jones, the second woman in the role. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the Cherokee Nation government. It interprets the tribe's constitution and statutes in all civil and criminal proceedings. On February 22, 2021, Baker's first written opinion was published, Effect of Cherokee Nation v. Nash & Vann v. Zinke, CNSC-2017-07. It granted full citizen rights to Cherokee Freedmen, descendants of African American people previously enslaved by Cherokee Indians, thus ending the discrimination against those on the reservation and at large who were not Cherokee by blood.{{Cite news |last=Kelly |first=Mary |last2=Eltohamy |first2=Farah |date=25 February 2021 |title=Cherokee Nation Strikes Down Language That Limits Citizen Rights 'By Blood' |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/02/25/971084455/cherokee-nation-strikes-down-language-that-limits-citizenship-rights-by-blood |access-date=25 August 2024 |work=NPR}}{{Cite news |last=Kaur |first=Harmeet |date=25 February 2021 |title=The Cherokee Nation acknowledges that descendants of people once enslaved by the tribe should also qualify as Cherokee |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/25/us/cherokee-nation-ruling-freedmen-citizenship-trnd/index.html |access-date=25 August 2024 |work=CNN}}https://www.cherokeecourts.org/Portals/cherokeecourts/Documents/Supreme%20Court/Order%20and%20Opinions/SC-17-07%2037-Final%20Order%202-22-21.pdf?ver=2021-02-26-135726-990 Graham Lee Brewer, Indigenous affairs editor at High Country News, and a member of the Cherokee Nation said, '....as someone who reads a lot of court documents for work, I would argue it was one of the most beautifully written ones I've ever read.'{{Cite web |date=2021-02-24 |title=In Tribal Constitution Change, The Cherokee Nation Addresses A History Of Enslavement |url=https://www.wlrn.org/2021-02-24/in-tribal-constitution-change-the-cherokee-nation-addresses-a-history-of-enslavement |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=WLRN |language=en}}

In June 2024, Baker was a mentor cyclist in the 40th 'Remember the Removal' bike ride commemorating the Trail of Tears, the forced displacement of Cherokees, in 1830 -1850, from their homelands westwards.{{Cite news |last=Clary |first=Felix |date=9 June 2024 |title=Cyclists take on trail |work=Tulsa World |pages=A15 and A17}} On February 1, 2025, she resigned from the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court to work for Cherokee Nation Businesses.{{cite news |title=Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Justice Shawna Baker completes term, joins CNB legal team |url=https://anadisgoi.com/index.php/businesses-stories/cherokee-nation-supreme-court-justice-shawna-baker-completes-term-joins-cnb-legal-team |access-date=February 6, 2025 |work=Anadisgoi |date=February 3, 2025}}

Other honors

In 2020, John Brown University recognized Baker as its Career Achievement Award recipient.

In 2021, the Oklahoma Bar Association recognized Baker’s contributions to the bench by awarding her the Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Diversity Award.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-26 |title=OBA Diversity Award Winners Announced - Oklahoma Bar Association |url=https://www.okbar.org/barjournal/november-2021/mccullough/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2018-06-07 |title=Diversity Awards - Oklahoma Bar Association |url=https://www.okbar.org/diversityawards/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |date=December 2021 |title=Photo Highlights |journal=The Oklahoma Bar Journal |volume=92 |issue=10 |pages=24}}

In 2021, The University of Tulsa College of Law awarded Baker the Outstanding Senior Alumna Award.{{Cite web |title=Honors & Awards |url=https://utulsa.edu/academics/business/about/highlights/honors-awards/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=The University of Tulsa |language=en-US}}

2022 NYU Alumni Changemaker of the Year (LAW '15).{{Cite web |title=NYU Alumni Changemaker: Shawna Baker (she/her) (LAW ’15) - NYU Alumni |url=https://video.alumni.nyu.edu/media/NYU+Alumni+ChangemakerA+Shawna+Baker+(she+her)+(LAW+%E2%80%9915)/1_7pffwhs5 |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=video.alumni.nyu.edu}}

Selected works by Baker

"Essential Estate Planning for the Constitutionally Unrecognized Families in Oklahoma: Same Sex Couples" in Tulsa Law Review (2004) Vol 40 Issue 3 pp 479–525. Linda J. Lacey and D. Marianne Blair, both law professors at the University of Tulsa, stated that the article evaluated "the profound discriminatory effects" that the ban on same-sex marriage in the state had on couple's rights. Lacey and Blair said Baker and her co-author Camille Quinn, compared the rights of a committed same-sex couple with a married couple when one partner becomes incapacitated or dies. According to Lacey and Blair, the article was "an invaluable

primer" for the complexities involved in estate planning for same-sex couples to ensure that they received any of the benefits and protections which were automatically afforded to traditional married couples. They also said that the article provided an overview of the estate and health laws of Oklahoma and covered in detail the documents "that are relevant to representation of all clients, regardless of their family structure" in the state.{{cite journal |last1=Lacey |first1=Linda J. |last2=Blair |first2=D. Marianne |title=Symposium Foreword: Coping with the Aftermath of Victory |journal=Tulsa Law Review |date=Spring 2005 |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=371–380 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232685282.pdf |access-date=25 August 2024 |publisher=University of Tulsa College of Law |location=Tulsa, Oklahoma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825171313/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232685282.pdf |archive-date=25 August 2024 |issn=1538-9979 |oclc=773810797 |url-status=live}}{{rp|378}}

"Where Conscience Meets Desire: Refusal of Health Care Providers to Honor Health Care Proxies for Sexual Minorities" in Women's Rights Law Reporter (2009-2010) Vol 31 Issue 1 pp 1–41.{{Cite web |last=Administrator |first=Project |date=2009-12-12 |title=Where conscience meets desire: refusal of health care providers to honor health care proxies for sexual minorities |url=https://library.consciencelaws.org/?p=11909 |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=Protection of Conscience Project Library |language=en-GB}} According to legal scholars, Nikki Burrill and Valita Fredland, the article evaluated the difficulties same-sex partners experienced in being granted the authority to make health care decisions in the event of incapacity of the other partner. Baker recommended that LGBT couples prepare advance healthcare directives to allow the partners to serve as each other's proxy. She also pointed out that some states also had requirements for "separate statutes for living wills and durable power of attorney for health care", which might also need to be executed to protect the ability of one partner to act as a surrogate for the other.{{cite journal |last1=Burrill |first1=Nikki |last2=Fredland |first2=Valita |title=The Forgotten Patient: A Health Provider's Guide to Providing Comprehensive Care for Transgender Patients |journal=Indiana Health Law Review |date=2012 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=69–115 |doi=10.18060/16603 |url=https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/practice/law-reviews/ihlr/pdf/vol9p69.pdf |access-date=25 August 2024 |publisher=Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |issn=1549-3199 |oclc=8165290746}}{{rp|95}}

Final Order in the Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation, SC-2017-07 In 2007, the Cherokee Nation amended its constitution to insert the words "by blood" to define who could be enrolled in the tribe. Those words effectively stripped of citizenship thousands of Cherokee citizens who descended from former slaves of Cherokee owners, who had been removed with them on the Trail of Tears, and who had been granted tribal citizenship under the terms of a treaty signed by Cherokee leaders and the US government in 1866. In 2017, a US District Court ruled that under the terms of the 1866 treaty Freemen were entitled to full tribal citizenship, which includes the right to obtain services such as health care, housing, and scholarships from the tribe and hold office on the tribal council or run for chief. Baker's ruling recognized that the Freedmen's rights were inherent and extended to them "as a birthright springing from their ancestors' oppression and displacement as people of color". Baker continued "The 'by blood' language found within the Cherokee Nation Constitution, and any laws which flow from that language, is illegal, obsolete, and repugnant to the ideal of liberty". Her ruling invalidated the phrase "by blood" from the Cherokee Constitution and other legislation or policies.