IETAN STAFF
Wilson K. Pipestem | Larry Rosenthal | Debbie Ho | Aurene M. Martin | Holly Cook Macarro | Juanita Keesing

Debbie Ho

Debbie Ho is a Partner at Ietan Consulting, LLC. She possesses in-depth knowledge of Indian law and policy and has wide-ranging experience in providing strategic advice to tribal governments, tribal programs, and tribal organizations to ensure that their objectives are successfully met. Debbie has served as Assistant Counsel to the President in the Office of White House Counsel and as Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Legislative Affairs in the United States Department of Justice. In addition, she has served as both an appellate and trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Division Honors Program where she represented the United States in over forty cases. In private practice, Debbie represented clients in the areas of litigation, investigations, and regulatory compliance.

During her tenure at Ietan, Debbie has been successful in securing substantial appropriations for tribal clients and for Indian Country in numerous areas, including tribal law enforcement, hospital construction, Native language preservation, Native education, wildlife management, methamphetamine prevention, infrastructure, and housing. On behalf of the National Indian Education Association, she spearheaded the passage of the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006, which was the first bill in 14 years that the Congress passed to create resources for Native communities to preserve Native languages. Currently, Debbie is actively engaged in ensuring that the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act contains Native language and cultural programs that foster academic achievement in Indian Country and is respectful of tribal traditions, cultures, and histories.

At the White House, Debbie served as Assistant Counsel to the President in the Office of White House Counsel and assessed Presidential nominations and appointments to the executive and judicial branches to determine candidate suitability. As part of the nominations and appointment process, she worked with the FBI and IRS on issues relating to candidate suitability and met with the Senate on FBI background investigations.

At the Justice Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs, which acts as the Department’s “lobbyist” on the Hill, Debbie coordinated and developed policy, legislative positions, strategy, and testimony on the various American Indian issues before the Department, including criminal jurisdiction, tribal law enforcement, civil rights, and tribal legislation. She also represented the Justice Department on the Hill on all issues pertaining to the Civil Rights Division, the Office of Justice Programs, the COPS Office, and the Bureau of Prisons. For her work at the Office of Legislative Affairs, she received an Outstanding Service Award. At the Justice Department’s Civil Division, she represented numerous agencies, including the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, and Customs Service, in cases filed primarily in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. Court of International Trade.

In private practice, Debbie advocated for tribal clients on various legislative and executive branch matters, including appropriations projects, campaign finance, drought relief assistance, and boundary disputes. On litigation matters, Debbie represented tribal clients in the areas of voting rights, Constitutional claims, and environmental tort actions. Further, she handled a variety of civil cases involving small businesses and Fortune 500 companies as well as investigations of governmental officials.

Debbie grew up in Mississippi, graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in 1991, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi School of Law with a J.D. in 1996. She is admitted to practice in Mississippi and the District of Columbia.