Tribal Judge Melissa Pope has been appointed to the Michigan Domestic & Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Pope is the chief judge of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribal Court, a role she’s served in since 2011, and as elected Chief Justice of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal Court of Appeals since 2009. She also teaches American Indian Law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Her career prior to joining the bench was rooted in social justice and anti-violence work, spanning roles as a staff attorney for the Women’s Survival Center of Oakland County, director of victim services at Triangle Foundation (now Equality Michigan), and coordinator of the Oakland University Gender and Sexuality Center. Throughout this work she advocated for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and anti-LGBTIQ violence, and developed trainings for law enforcement, prosecutors, and service providers on topics ranging from hate crimes to violence in same-gender relationships.
As Chief Judge, Pope has built the NHBP Tribal Court into a trauma-informed, victim-centered institution grounded in traditional Indigenous values. She led the development of a Victim Services Department, a Probation Department with dedicated supervision and intervention divisions, and a Domestic Violence Code with restored jurisdiction under VAWA 2013 and 2022. Her court was the first tribal court in Michigan to attain direct access to the Law Enforcement Information Network. Beyond the bench, she was reappointed by Governor Whitmer to the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, serves as Co-Chair of the Michigan Tribal State Federal Judicial Forum, and is President of the Michigan Indian Judicial Association.
The Michigan Domestic & Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board was created in 2012 from a domestic violence board established in 1978. It develops and recommends policy, technical assistance, and training to the criminal justice and child welfare agencies, and administers state and federal funding for domestic and sexual violence services.