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“TRIBUTE TO MARVIN J. SONOSKY” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1467-E1468 on July 22, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO MARVIN J. SONOSKY
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HON. GEORGE MILLER
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, July 22, 1997
Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a man who spent his life and career working on behalf of Indian tribes and people to ensure that the United States lived up to its trust responsibility to them, Marvin Sonosky, of Alexandria, VA. On July 16, Mr. Sonosky died of heart failure. He was 88 years old. I join the many friends of Mr. Sonosky in mourning the loss of one of Indian country's greatest advocates. I would like to convey my personal sympathies to his wife, Shirley Freimuth Sonosky, his three daughters, Judith Kreisberg, Joann Hirsch, and Karen Hecker, and to his seven grandchildren and to his one great grandchild.
Mr. Sonosky was born in Duluth, MN. He graduated from college and law school at the University of Minnesota. After four years of private practice in Duluth, Mr. Sonosky came to Washington in 1937 and joined the Lands Division of the Department of Justice, where he served for 17 years. He was named a special assistant to the Attorney General and frequently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1951, Mr. Sonosky returned to private practice, first in association with two Washington law firms and later as a sole practitioner. In 1976, he founded the law firm of Sonosky, Chambers & Sachse, where he practiced until his death. Through the last week of his life, he remained active in the trial practice of the firm.
Mr. Sonosky was a unique individual in this city, in that he was one of the best advocates in his field, yet he never sought the accolades or tributes that so many seek to obtain. Instead, his tribute came from knowing that every day that he worked he had the potential of improving perhaps just one Indian person's life. I would like to share with my colleagues some of the many legislative initiatives involving Indian tribes that were the brainchild of Mr. Sonosky. These are but one measure of the impact that Mr. Sonosky had in improving the lives and opportunities of Indian tribal governments and their people, and which has done much to ensure that the United States stands behind its trust obligation to them.
Following devastating losses of Indian reservation land, and its resulting poverty, Mr. Sonosky worked with Congress to secure the enactment of Federal statutes that returned over 1 million acres of undisposed of surplus lands within those reservations to the tribes--
the resources from which have been vital to the economies of many Indian communities. Mr. Sonosky also brought to the attention of Congress the need for legislation authorizing Indian tribes to recover just compensation for lands taken by the United States, so that the damages awarded would not be unfairly diminished by the value of food and rations that the United States had otherwise promised in exchange for the lands acquired. And when government officials unlawfully offset welfare claims against trust funds of individual Indians, Mr. Sonosky successfully challenged that practice in Federal court, after which he worked with Congress to ensure that all individual Indians who had been harmed by the practice were properly reimbursed.
While much of Mr. Sonosky's work with Congress focused on righting past wrongs, an equal part of his work has resulted in legislation that will protect Indian rights for generations to come. Through his efforts, Federal law that had previously allowed States to assume jurisdiction over certain matters on Indian reservations were amended to expressly require tribal consent prior to application of State jurisdiction. And most significantly, when limitations contained in the statutes governing Federal court jurisdiction effectively barred Indian tribes from invoking that forum to vindicate federally protected rights, Mr. Sonosky successfully pushed for legislation that today vests the Federal courts with jurisdiction to adjudicate any claim brought by an Indian tribe.
The honor of the Nation with regard to our obligations to Indian people has been well served by Mr. Sonosky. We will miss him dearly.
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