S. Craig Alexander

S. Craig Alexander is a senior trial attorney in the Indian Resources Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, which litigates to protect tribal rights, including land, water, fishing, and jurisdictional interests. 

Mr. Alexander’s most recently completed case is Seneca Nation v. New York, 26 F. Supp.2d 555 (W.D. NY 1998), aff’d 178 F.3d 95 (2d Cir. 1999) (affirming 11th Amendment issue on interlocutory appeal), cert. denied 120 S. Ct. 785 (2000). Prior to serving in the Indian Resource Section, Mr. Alexander helped to create the Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ) at the Department of Justice, where he was deputy director and acting director. 

Before the creation of OTJ, he was in the Policy, Legislation, and Special Litigation Section of the Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he litigated Indian law and natural resource cases before both appellate and trial courts and drafted and reviewed legislation affecting Indian tribes. 

Following graduation from law school, Mr. Alexander clerked for then Chief Judge James L. Oakes, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Alexander spent eight years working as a whitewater river guide in the western United States, East Africa, and Papua New Guinea.