Rae Nell Vaughn

Rae Nell Vaughn, a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, is former Chief Justice of the Mississippi Choctaw Supreme Court. Appointed in 1997, Justice Vaughn served the Choctaw Judiciary as Senior Youth Court Judge for four years and in 2000 was appointed as Chief Justice of the Choctaw Supreme Court, becoming the first female Choctaw citizen so appointed. Vaughn graduated from Choctaw Central High School and went on to receive a bachelor of arts in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice and corrections from Mississippi State University. She is currently working on her master's in justice administration at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. She is an active member of the National American Indian Court Judges Association as well as the Eastern Tribal Court Judges Association. In June 2006, Chief Justice Vaughn was appointed by Chief Justice Jim Smith of the Supreme Court of the State of Mississippi to serve as a commissioner for the newly established commission, Mississippi Access to Justice.