CHIEF JUSTICE STEVEN R. JENSEN
South Dakota Unified Judicial System

Chief Justice Jensen was appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Dennis Daugaard. He was sworn in on November 3, 2017. Chief Justice Jensen was selected by his colleagues on the Court to serve as Chief Justice beginning in January, 2021. He was reselected to a second, four-year term as Chief Justice beginning Jan. 6, 2025. Chief Justice Jensen represents the Fourth Supreme Court District consisting of Union, Clay, Yankton, Hutchinson, Hanson, Davison, Bon Homme, Douglas, Aurora, Charles Mix, Gregory, McCook, Turner and Lincoln Counties. Justice Jensen grew up on a farm near Wakonda, South Dakota. He received his undergraduate degree from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1985 and his Juris Doctor from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1988. He clerked for Justice Richard W. Sabers on the South Dakota Supreme Court before entering private practice in 1989. In 2003, Chief Justice Jensen was appointed as a First Judicial Circuit Judge by former Governor Mike Rounds. He became the Presiding Judge of the First Judicial Circuit in 2011. Chief Justice Jensen served as chair of the Unified Judicial System’s Presiding Judges Council, president of the SD Judges Association, and has served on other boards and commissions. In 2009, Chief Justice Jensen was appointed as a Judicial Fellow to the Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource Center in Washington D.C. Justice Jensen and his wife, Sue, have three children and three grandchildren.

DAN LEWERNS
UND School of Law and Director of Indian Law

Dan Lewerenz (Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska) is an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Indian Law and Tribal Law Certificate Program at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where he also teaches the Indian Child Welfare Act course.  Before joining the UND faculty, Dan was a staff attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of the Native American Rights Fund, where he coordinated amicus strategy in the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the Brackeen litigation.  Before that, Dan was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of the Interior, where defended against two earlier challenges to ICWA (National Council for Adoption v. Jewell, and A.D. v. Washburn) and worked on issues related to the 2016 ICWA Final Rule.  Dan earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.  He previously worked for more than 10 years as a reporter and editor for The Associated Press, and was a board member and President of the Native American Journalists Association.

SHELDON SPOTTED ELK
Casey Family Programs

Sheldon Spotted Elk works as the Senior Director of Judicial and National Engagement at Casey Family Programs. He has a background and presents regularly on tribal law, child welfare and the ICWA.

He also serves as a judge on the Ute Indian Tribe Court of Appeals in a jurisdiction he once represented children in child welfare and juvenile delinquency matters. He has worked as an adjunct professor teaching a law school course on Family Law in Indian Country.

Sheldon is an Obama Foundation USA Leader in the 2024-2025 cohort that inspire, empower, and connect emerging leaders across the country.
Sheldon is a graduate from University of New Mexico School of Law and received the Certificate in Federal Indian Law.

And he and his two sons are members of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.

TANEEZA ISLAM
Director, SD Voices for Peace

Taneeza Islam has been practicing immigration law in SD since 2013. She co-founded SD Voices for Peace (SDVFP) in 2017 and launched the state’s only free immigration legal services to victims of crimes and minors in immigration court. SD Voices for Peace has 4 main programming areas: Legal Services, Multilingual Community Outreach and Civic Engagement, Education and Training, and Rapid Response.