Bio
Stephen Pevar was a Senior Staff Attorney in the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, and was on the National Legal Staff for 37 years. Stephen specialized in Indian and tribal rights, prisoners’ rights, free speech of public employees, and the separation of church and state. He litigated some 200 federal cases involving constitutional rights, including cases in more than ten different Federal District Courts, three different U.S. Courts of Appeals, and one case in the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining the ACLU, Stephen served as a staff attorney with South Dakota Legal Services on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. In addition to his work with the ACLU, Stephen authored The Rights of Indians and Tribes (Oxford University Press 2012). He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver School of Law and the University of Connecticut School of Law, and will join New York University School of Law as an adjunct professor in the spring of 2015. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Featured work
Jan 23, 2019
The Shutdown Is Disproportionally Hurting Native Americans
Jul 26, 2017
Wyoming’s Boot Camp Program for Young, First-Time Offenders Openly Discriminates Against Women in Favor of Men
Feb 24, 2017
Oil and Water Don’t Mix: Why the ACLU Is Standing Up for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Feb 22, 2017
In South Dakota, Officials Defied a Federal Judge and Took Indian Kids Away From Their Parents in Rigged Proceedings
Jan 25, 2017
President Trump Says the Dakota Access Pipeline ‘Serves the National Interest,’ Yet It Threatens Indian Rights and the Drinking Water of 18 Million People
Feb 19, 2016
'Where Are Your Guts?': Johnny Cash’s Little-Known Fight for Native Americans
Dec 7, 2015
Dollar General's Attack on Tribal Sovereignty
Apr 13, 2015
South Dakota’s ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ Child-Custody Hearings Are No More
Jul 23, 2014
Why Are These Indian Children Being Torn Away From Their Homes?