What do former CU professor Ward Churchill and U.S. Senate candidate from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren have in common? Both falsely claimed Native American ancestry and have been caught plagiarizing others work.

With Ward Churchill’s case set to go before the Colorado Supreme Court we thought it would be a good time to point out the striking number of parallels.

Let’s start with the Fake Indian aspect. Both Churchill and Warren claimed to be members of the Cherokee tribe, when in fact, neither are.

Churchill claimed varying degrees of Native American ancestry, but a Rocky Mountain News investigation “identified 142 direct forebears of Churchill and turned up no evidence of a single Indian ancestor among them.”

Likewise, Elizabeth “Hunts At Whole Foods” Warren claimed to be 1/32 Cherokee, but the Boston Globe reports “she has not proven she has a Native American ancestor, instead saying she based her belief on family lore, and she has no official tribal affiliation.” Worse yet for Warren, an investigation found that not only does she not have Indian blood, but a relative of hers was actually involved in rounding up Indians to be killed in the Trail of Tears. So we guess it’s fair to say she has Indian blood…on her hands.

Not only did both Churchill and Warren falsely claim to be Native American, but both appear to have enjoyed professional benefits from doing so.

Churchill was hired under a “special opportunity” position based on his claimed Indian heritage. Similarly, Warren benefited from her fake ancestry, with her being promoted as a “woman of color” by Harvard many times throughout the 1990s, as well as listing herself as a Native American in a professional law directory in the 1980s.

Neither appreciated being questioned about their genealogical hoaxes either, and both ended up making less-than-politically-correct statements when pressed.

Here’s Churchill in 2005: “I have never been confirmed as having one-quarter blood and never said I was. I have never claimed to be goddamned Sitting Bull.”

And Warren earlier this month: “My Papaw had high cheek bones like all the Indians do.”

As if those similarities weren’t enough, both artificial American Indians also decided to steal the work of others without recognition.

Churchill was caught plagiarizing essays from other scholars, and even admitted it in court, which led in part to his firing. Warren has been accused of lifting recipes word-for-word from The New York Times for her contributions to the hilariously named cook book “Pow Wow Chow.”

Of course, Warren didn’t compare victims of 9/11 to “little Eichmanns” like Churchill did, but she did forget what years the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. And knowing some die hard BoSox fans as we do, in Massachusetts that’s almost worse.