Keith Harper (lawyer)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Keith Michael Harper (born 1965) is an American lawyer and diplomat who became the first Native American to serve as a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and spent much of his career fighting for Native American rights.

Harper was born in Washington, D.C. His father’s military career meant he didn’t grow up in one place. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990, and a law degree from New York University in 1993. After law school, he clerked for Judge Lawrence W. Pierce and worked at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.

From 1995 to 2006, Harper was a litigator with the Native American Rights Fund, focusing on cases that affected Native communities. He played a leading role in Cobell v. Kempthorne, a major class-action suit that resulted in a $3.4 billion settlement for Native Americans in 2009. He also taught law as an adjunct professor at Catholic University of America (1998–2001) and as a lecturer at American University (1999–2001).

Harper later became a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, continuing his work on Native American issues and the Cobell case. The case generated large attorney fees, which sparked debate and led Harper to defend the settlement terms in the early 2010s. He also served as a judge in tribal courts, including the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

In politics, Harper helped connect Native tribes with the Obama campaign and later joined the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships in 2011. He was noted as a major fundraiser for Obama in 2012 and was involved in supporting Deb Haaland’s 2017 congressional campaign.

Harper was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 10, 2013. Some opponents questioned his background, but he was eventually confirmed by the Senate on June 3, 2014, in a party-line vote. He was sworn in on June 5, 2014, and served until January 20, 2017, when the Obama administration ended.

After leaving public service, Harper returned to private practice, rejoining Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton in February 2017 and later joining Jenner & Block in July 2020. He remains active in Native American and international legal work.