The Gaye L. Tenoso Indian Country Fellowship

The Gaye L. Tenoso Indian Country Fellowship 

The Gaye L. Tenoso Indian Country Fellowship, part of the Attorney General's Honors Program, is designed to create a  pipeline of legal talent with expertise and deep experience in federal Indian law, tribal law, and Indian country issues that can be deployed in creative ways to build tribal capacity, combat violent crime, and bolster public safety in Indian country jurisdictions.

The Fellowship is named in honor of the late Gaye L. Tenoso, a Department of Justice attorney whose distinguished service to the Department and the people it serves spanned 30 years. For the last six years of her life Gaye served as the Deputy Director the Office of Tribal Justice. Gaye’s expertise in Federal Indian law and knowledge of tribes enabled her to be an exceptionally effective advisor on litigation and policy matters. She worked tirelessly to ensure that specific protections for Native American women were included in the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization of 2013. Gaye also mentored many legal interns during her time at the Office of Tribal Justice, and was an inspiration and guide who left a deep impression on many young attorneys.

Prior to serving with the Office of Tribal Justice, Gaye worked for over 25 years in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in the Educational Opportunities Section and the Voting Section. While in the Voting Section, she received the high honor of being invited by the United States Solicitor General to sit at counsel table during the Supreme Court argument in Reno v. Bossier Parish School District. In addition, Gaye led the Civil Rights Division’s Election Monitoring Program to ensure the right to vote for all Americans. Gaye’s passion was to ensure American Indians were provided the same access to voting as others. She was instrumental in bringing cases against counties in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah to provide language assistance at the polls for American Indians, where she helped spearhead unprecedented remedies to provide voting opportunities for all.

Fellowship Details

A Tenoso Indian Country Fellowship offers a 36-month appointment that may be extended or converted to a permanent position at the hiring component’s discretion without further competition. Candidates will interview with a joint panel of attorneys from the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA) and participating U.S. Attorneys' Offices (USAOs). Actual placement will be mutually agreed upon by the Fellow and the District. In addition, individual USAOs may offer additional Indian Country Fellowship positions at their discretion. This year, the Indian Country Fellowship will place one Fellow in a participating U.S. Attorney's Office. Candidates may select their assignment preference, with actual placement based on mutual agreement of the Fellow and District.  

Fellows will spend their appointment investigating and prosecuting complex federal Indian country crimes within a U.S. Attorney’s Office, while also completing a detail embedded directly inside a tribal legal or governmental entity, typically a tribal prosecutor's office. This immersive dual role allows graduating 3L law students and recent law school graduates the opportunity enforce tribal laws, build local legal capacity, and champion critical public safety protections. The detail may consist of a one-year detail to a single tribal legal or governmental entity or two six-month details to different tribal legal or governmental entities, depending on the needs of the Disrict and its tribal partners.

The Indian Country Fellowship is open to all eligible Honors Program applicants, including current law students graduating in the coming academic year. There are a few requirements associated with bar admission that applicants should consider:

• Fellows must be admitted to a bar (any U.S. jurisdiction) within 12 months of appointment. 

  • Fellows who accept an offer from a USAO located in a jurisdiction that requires State bar admission must become admitted to that bar within 12 months of entry on duty.

  • Incoming Fellows who are not admitted to a bar (or who have not recently taken a bar with results pending) are expected to take the first available bar examination for which they are eligible (e.g., a May 2027 law school graduate should take the July 2027 bar exam unless eligible to take an earlier bar exam).

• Fellows must meet specific tribal court or bar admission requirements, if relevant to their assigned District.

Placement Opportunities for the 2026-2027 Indian Country Fellowship  

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska | U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona | U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana | U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma | U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Dakota