Muskie-Chafee Award Recipients

Graphic by ENRD

Tracy Toulou
2023
Director of the Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ)

Tracy Toulou is the Director of the Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ) at the Department of Justice. OTJ is the primary point of contact for the Department of Justice's government-to-government relationship with Indian tribes. The Office also serves as a source of Indian law expertise for the Department. Mr. Toulou has served as Director of OTJ since 2000. Prior to his current position, Mr. Toulou served for five years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana where his duties included Tribal outreach and the prosecution of violent crime in Indian country. He began his career in 1994 with the Department as an attorney in the Criminal Division.

Mr. Toulou’s expertise in Federal Indian law and knowledge of Tribes has enabled him to be an exceptionally effective leader on litigation, policy, and operational matters. He has worked to address many of the most persistent and pressing public safety challenges faced by Tribes by strengthening Tribal sovereignty, Tribal self-governance, and the government-to-government relationship between the Department and Tribal governments. He championed the Department’s policy that ensures Tribal input and insight into agency decision-making, introducing a meaningful and transparent standard that has been used as a model across the federal government. Mr. Toulou is particularly invested in OTJ’s intern program and derives a great deal of fulfillment from mentoring and guiding young attorneys.

Mr. Toulou attended law school at the University of New Mexico, during which time he had the opportunity to clerk for DNA Legal Services on the Navajo Nation and for the Laguna Pueblo Tribal Court. Before attending law school Mr. Toulou worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Peace Corps in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean. He is a descendant of the Colville Confederated Tribes located in Washington State.