Stephen Pevar graduated from Princeton University in 1968 and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1971. Mr. Pevar began his legal career in 1971 as a Legal Aid attorney on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he lived and worked until 1974. He then worked for 45 years on the National Staff of the American Civil Liberties Union, retiring in 2022. During that time, Mr. Pevar litigated more than 175 civil rights cases, focusing on Indigenous rights, freedom of speech, and the rights of prisoners.
In addition, Mr. Pevar taught Federal Indian Law for 16 years at the University of Denver School of Law, for 5 years at NYU Law School, and has taught Advanced Federal Indian Law at Yale Law School for the past four years. He has lectured extensively on Indigenous justice issues and is the author of The Rights of Indians and Tribes (Oxford 2024, 5th ed.)
Mr. Pevar lives in Connecticut with his wife, Laurel. They have two children, Lianna and Elena.