Samantha Blencke is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Native American Rights Fund in the Washington, DC, office. She litigates to eliminate obstacles to voting faced by Native Americans and to advance equitable Indian education, with a particular focus on structural reforms that produce lasting change in Indian Country.
At NARF, she leads a first-of-its-kind redistricting initiative in Indian Country that combines public education, community-driven mapping proposals, and litigation to dismantle discriminatory voting systems. Through this work, she has helped secure fair maps and increased Native representation in Chouteau County, Montana; Lyman County, South Dakota; Benson County, North Dakota; northeastern North Dakota; western North Dakota; and Thurston County, Nebraska. She also leads NARF’s efforts to protect Native voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice as courts reconsider the scope and application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act following the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais.
She has successfully litigated and resolved major voting-rights cases across the country, including victories securing a judgment that proof of address requirements in Arizona are preempted by the National Voter Registration Act, compliance with the National Voter Registration Act in South Dakota, election day registration in Montana, ballot assistance in Montana and Nevada, ballot receipt extension deadlines in Nevada, and on-reservation polling places in Montana.
She has served as counsel for amicus curiae before the United States Supreme Court in advocating for the counting of lawfully cast mail ballots to protect Native voters facing systemic postal barriers, defending federal laws that protect voters from gerrymandering, and the use of ballot collection and equal access by Native American voters.
Outside of the courtroom, she regularly testifies before state elected bodies on proposed voting legislation. Her testimony and evidentiary submissions helped shape the robust findings and recommendation of South Dakota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report on Voting Rights and Access in South Dakota.
In addition to litigation, she is an active leader in the Native American Voting Rights Coalition, a nationwide alliance of advocates, lawyers, academics, and tribal representatives working to protect and expand Native voting rights. She also helps lead NARF’s national Election Protection efforts, coordinating work to identify and remove barriers to Native voter participation.
In the education realm, Samantha represented six Tribes, as well as individual parents, guardians, and students to compel fulfillment of a constitutional mandate to teach public school students the history and culture of the first peoples of Montana. The case resulted in a landmark agreement establishing statewide implementation, Tribal consultation, monitoring, and accountability requirements for Montana’s Indian Education for All program. She also co-authored an amici curiae brief to the Ninth Circuit in a case of first impression regarding the legal obligations of the United States to educate K-12 tribal students.
Samantha started her career at DNA-People’s Legal Services representing low income clients in family law, housing, public benefits, and consumer matters, after which she spent more than 15 years in private practice representing Tribal schools and other Tribal entities in employment, administrative litigation defense, and other general counsel roles.
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Education
- South Texas College of Law, J.D.
- Dean’s Merit Scholarship
- University of New Mexico School of Law, visiting student, honor roll
- Louisiana State University, B.A. English
Admissions to Practice
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- United States District Court for the District of Arizona
- United States District Court for the District of Montana
- United States District Court for the District of South Dakota
- United States Tax Court
- Arizona
- Texas
