Williams is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Indian Tribe of North Carolina.
Now at University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Williams has established a notable career in the fields of American Indian and International law, indigenous people's rights, and critical race and colonial theory.
[3] Williams served as Chief Justice for the Court of Appeals, Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation.
He also served as Justice for the Court of Appeals and trial judge pro tem for the Tohono O'odham Nation.
Williams has received awards from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Soros Foundation Open Society Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Institute of Justice in recognition of his research and advocacy on behalf of Indian tribes and indigenous peoples.