James Thomas Tucker

Dr. James Thomas Tucker is a voting rights attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. The views expressed in his publications are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department. Previously, he was a counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the American Civil Liberties Union. For over a decade, he was pro bono voting rights counsel to the Native American Rights Fund.

From 2016 to 2022, Dr. Tucker was a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) to the U.S. Census Bureau. He served as Chair of the NAC (2020-2022) and Vice Chair (2019-2020). He co-led efforts to secure a complete count of Alaska Natives and American Indians during the 2020 Census.

Dr. Tucker's areas of expertise include race and redistricting, language accessibility and other voting rights issues, and the census. He has written or co-authored two books, three book chapters, and two dozen journal articles. His publications focus on voting rights, language access issues, and efforts by Alaska Natives and American Indians to secure equal access to the political process and to be counted in the census. He has a forthcoming book, authored with Dan McCool, entitled “The Hundred Year Struggle: Native Americans and the Continuing Quest for Political Equality.”

Dr. Tucker has testified before Congress eight times at hearings on the census, voting rights, and political access of minority citizens.

In 2006, Dr. Tucker led efforts by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) to secure the 25-year reauthorization of the VRA’s expiring provisions. He worked closely with other civil rights organizations and lobbyists on the reauthorization bill, including authoring reports included in the congressional record.

Dr. Tucker was an Adjunct Professor at Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University, where he taught seminars on constitutional and civil rights law, including classes on voting rights. He clerked for Chief U.S. District Judge Maurice Paul in the Northern District of Florida from 1994-1997. A decorated Air Force veteran, he flew hundreds of hours of combat sorties during the first Gulf War.

Dr. Tucker holds Doctor of the Science of Laws and Master of Laws degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, a Juris Doctor degree with high honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of Florida, and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma. He received his undergraduate degree in history from the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University.

Dr. Tucker lives in the Washington, D.C. area.