"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Council Members’ Actions Violate Constitution

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - A Cherokee Nation District Court Judge has ruled that the actions of seven members of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council violated the Cherokee Nation Constitution. The seven council members filed a lawsuit in federal court “on behalf of the Cherokee Nation,” which the court ruled they had “no authority whatsoever” to do.

The seven council members, Linda Hughes O’Leary, Bill John Baker, S. Joe Crittenden, David Thornton, Charles Hoskin, Melvina Shotpouch and Johnny Keener, were acting “outside the scope of their authority” when they filed the suit, wrote Bart Fite, Cherokee Nation District Court Judge.

“There is no provision in the Constitution or laws of the Cherokee Nation which gives power or authority to the Council, or any of its individual members, to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the Cherokee Nation. (The Council members’) filing of the federal action violated the Cherokee Nation’s Constitution’s Attorney General provision and the separation of powers provision. (The Council members) acted outside the scope of their authority by instituting the federal action on the Nation’s behalf,” Fite wrote.

The order also specifies that since the Council members were not representing the Cherokee Nation but acting as individuals when they filed the lawsuit, “the Cherokee Nation is not obligated to pay any amount of money expended as a result of the filing of said suit.” The order also forces the Council members to change their federal court filing to “remove any and all statements that the suit is brought ‘on behalf of the Cherokee Nation’ and must clarify in the federal action record that they do not represent the interests of the Cherokee Nation.”

Judge Fite’s orders in this and related cases can be seen on the Cherokee Nation’s web site.