PERSON: Chase Iron Eyes

Lakota People’s Law Project

Lead Local Counsel in the Dakotas, Activist, Attorney

Chase Iron Eyes (born March 6, 1978) is a Native American activist, attorney, politician, and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. He is a member of the Lakota People’s Law Project and a co-founder of the Native American news website Last Real Indians. In April 2016 he announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives for North Dakota’s at-large congressional district. He lost to incumbent Kevin Cramer.

Iron Eyes graduated from the University of North Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in political science and Native American studies. In 2007, he graduated from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, with a Juris Doctor in law (with an emphasis in Federal Indian law). Iron Eyes was also the president of the Native American Law Student Association during his academic career in law school. Iron Eyes is licensed to practice law within the state of South Dakota as well as in the federal courts of both North Dakota and South Dakota in addition to several tribal court systems.

In July 2012, Iron Eyes filed a civil suit in federal court on behalf of Vern Traversie, a blind 69-year-old Lakota man, against a South Dakota hospital. The lawsuit alleged a violation of Traversie’s civil rights, citing scars that Traversie said were from doctors carving the initials of the Ku Klux Klan into his abdomen during heart surgery. The hospital stated the marks were a reaction to surgical tape, and in 2015, a jury ruled against Traversie.

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