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TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – In a May 24 letter to the Tribal Council, Principal Chief Chad Smith called for a special meeting at 5 p.m. June 6 in the Tribal Council Chambers. The letter states that councilors are to discuss and possibly act upon a resolution to submit to a vote of Cherokee Nation voters an affirmation of the removal of federal approval from the CN constitution. CN officials said if the resolution passes, the question would be added to the June 23 general election ballot, and the question would call for Cherokees to re-affirm what voters approved in 2003 when 68 percent of them decided to remove federal approval from the tribe’s constitution. In that election, voters also approved the tribe’s 2003 Constitution, which replaced the 1975 Constitution. Article XV, Section 10 of the 1975 Constitution states that all constitutional amendments or new constitutions must have federal approval. The special meeting call follows a May 21 letter from the BIA stating that the federal agency does not recognize the tribe’s 2003 vote dealing with the removal of federal approval and that the tribe still must seek federal approval for constitutional changes. The BIA’s denial came nearly four years after the bureau approved the elections of the tribal officials who won in 2003. Smith, however, said the BIA letter has little practical effect because the tribe’s top court in June 2006 ruled that Article XV, Section 10 of the 1975 Constitution was self-imposed and that the Cherokee people “by their inherent sovereign power had the right to remove the self-imposed requirement.” At the time of the JAT’s ruling, Chief Smith said the CN was exercising its sovereignty by approving the new constitution and the new amendment without federal approval. “The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court spoke clearly that the BIA has no authority to approve the Cherokee Nation Constitution,” Smith said. “If the BIA has its way, the Cherokee Nation cannot even amend our own constitution. This is contrary to federal policy and court decisions handed down time after time over the last 30 years. It is insulting and wrong, and we will take all appropriate steps to defend our nationhood and right to self-determination.”

Related Cherokee Nation contact information:

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org