Stephanie Marie Herseth Sandlin is an American attorney,university administrator,and politician from the Democratic Party. She represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2004 until 2011. Sandlin was first elected to Congress in a July 2004 special election and won three full terms before losing to Republican Kristi Noem in 2010. She was the youngest female member of the House,and the first woman elected to the House from South Dakota. Before her 2007 marriage to Max Sandlin,she was known as Stephanie Herseth. She is a Democrat and a member of the Herseth family of South Dakota. She and Senator Tim Johnson are the last Democrats to win a statewide and/or federal election in South Dakota.
Larry Long is an American judge and the former 29th Attorney General of the state of South Dakota,United States. A Republican,he was first elected Attorney General in 2002 and left office in 2009 to accept an appointment by Gov. Mike Rounds to a judgeship in the state's Second Judicial District.
The structure of the government of South Dakota is based on that of the federal government,with three branches of government:executive,legislative,and judicial. The structure of the state government is laid out in the Constitution of South Dakota,the highest law in the state. The constitution may be amended either by a majority vote of both houses of the legislature,or by voter initiative.
The Lower Brule Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation that belongs to the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. It is located on the west bank of the Missouri River in Lyman and Stanley counties in central South Dakota in the United States. It is adjacent to the Crow Creek Indian Reservation on the east bank of the river. The Lower Brule Sioux are members of the Sicangu,one of the bands of the Lakota people. Tribal headquarters is in Lower Brule.
Karen Elizabeth Schreier is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota and was the 36th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota.
John Bailey Jones was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.
Donald James Porter was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.
Ex parte Crow Dog,109 U.S. 556 (1883),is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that followed the death of one member of a Native American tribe at the hands of another on reservation land. Crow Dog was a member of the Bruléband of the Lakota Sioux. On August 5,1881 he shot and killed Spotted Tail,a Lakota chief;there are different accounts of the background to the killing. The tribal council dealt with the incident according to Sioux tradition,and Crow Dog paid restitution to the dead man's family. However,the U.S. authorities then prosecuted Crow Dog for murder in a federal court. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of South Dakota may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in South Dakota,and same-sex marriages have been recognized since June 2015 as a result of Obergefell v. Hodges. State statutes do not address discrimination on account of sexual orientation or gender identity;however,the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County established that employment discrimination against LGBTQ people is illegal under federal law.
Miranda Mai Du is an American lawyer who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. As a district judge,Du has presided over a number of noteworthy cases,including a number regarding voting rights. She served as the chief judge of the court 2019 to 2024.
Brendan Van Johnson is an American attorney who served as the 40th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota. He is the son of former U.S. Senator Tim Johnson and currently is a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP,where he serves as the Chair of the Firm's National Business Litigation Group and Member of the Firm's Executive Board. In 2024,Johnson was recognized as one of America's Top 200 Lawyers for his litigation work and representation of Native American tribes.
Jane Louise Kelly is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
James Joseph Donato is an American attorney and judge. He has served as United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California since 2014.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Dakota since June 26,2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the U.S. Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry. Attorney General Marty Jackley issued a statement critical of the ruling but said that the state would comply and recognize same-sex marriages. Previously,South Dakota had restricted marriage to the "union of a man and a woman" both by statute and in its State Constitution.
James Wesley Hendrix is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and former assistant United States attorney for the same district. He presides over the Northern District's Lubbock,Abilene,and San Angelo Divisions,which account for 47 of the Northern District's 100 counties,and span an area larger than Pennsylvania.
The 2018 South Dakota gubernatorial election took place on November 6,2018,to elect the next governor of South Dakota. Incumbent Republican governor Dennis Daugaard was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term.
Randolph John Seiler was an American attorney and veteran serving as the chair of the Democratic Party of South Dakota from 2019-2023. He served as the 41st United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota from 2015 until his retirement in 2017. Seiler was previously the Deputy United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota.
Jonathan Allen Kobes is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Jason Richard Ravnsborg is an American attorney and politician. A Republican,he served as Attorney General of South Dakota from 2019 until his removal in 2022. Ravnsborg ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014,losing in the Republican primary to former Governor Mike Rounds,who won the general election.
Harold C. Frazier is an American politician and tribal leader who is the former chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe,serving in that position since 2014. A member of the Democratic Party,Frazier serves concurrently as the chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association,a position he was elected to in 2018.
