Press Release
Danna Jackson
Nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana on April 24, 2024.
On April 24, 2024, President Biden nominated Danna Jackson to the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Jackson serves as Tribal Attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and formerly worked for the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. If confirmed, she would be the first Native American individual to serve on the District of Montana.
Biography
Jackson was born in Hamilton, Montana in 1971. A first-generation Kootenai descendant, she was raised on a cattle ranch on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Southwest Montana. Jackson earned both her B.A. (1993) and J.D. (1996) from the University of Montana.
Legal Experience
Jackson began her career as an Associate at Marra Evenson & Levine (“Marra”), a law firm based in Great Falls, Montana. At Marra, Jackson largely litigated civil cases involving workers’ compensation, personal injury, and insurance defense. She left the firm in 2000, to serve as a staff attorney for the National Indian Gaming Commission. Her caseload involved Class II gaming cases as well as regulatory violations and FOIA requests.
From 2002-2005, Jackson worked as a legislative assistant for Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD). In the Senator’s office, she handled Indian affairs, appropriations, and judiciary matters. She eventually left the Senate to work for prestigious D.C. law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (“Akin Gump”). At Akin Gump, Jackson litigated complex tribal water law cases and served tribal clients.
In 2010, Jackson returned to her home state, becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Tribal Liaison for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana. After six years at the U.S. Attorney’s office, she returned to environmental law as Chief Legal Counsel for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. There, Jackson litigated everything from water law to employment law to road law cases. Inspired by her environmental work, she moved to the Bureau of Land Management in 2021, working as Senior Counsel to the Director. Her docket largely involved water law and drought management, with a focus on the Mississippi and Columbia River Basins. Today, Jackson works as a tribal attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
As illustrated above, Jackson has dedicated her legal career to environmental and federal Indian law – two specialties that are drastically underrepresented on the federal bench. To date, only a handful of judges with environmental law or federal Indian law backgrounds have served on the federal bench.