"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Cherokee Chief Commends U.S. Reps Boren and Cole

"Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith Commends U.S. Reps. Boren, Cole for Urging U.S. Attorney General Holder To Reject Calls for Investigating Five Tribes."

WASHINGTON, DC - Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith praised two Oklahoma Congressmen who have asked United States Attorney General Eric Holder to reject a request from other U.S. representatives to initiate an investigation into the citizenship laws of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma.

U.S. Reps. Dan Boren (D-Okla.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) wrote in a letter to Holder that “… it would be blatantly unconstitutional to investigate the supposed treaty violation without a judgment by the federal courts… To say the least, it would be premature for the Department of Justice to investigate an alleged violation of a right when the tribal and federal courts are still in the process of determining if such right exists as claimed.”

The letter refers to litigation involving the Cherokee Nation in two federal courts in addition to the Cherokee Nation tribal court. The cases center around the citizenship status of non-Indian Freedmen descendants who gained citizenship between March of 2006 and March of 2007, a period of time when the Cherokee Nation Constitution allowed some non-Indians to become citizens. The tribe has more than 1,500 citizens who are descendants of Freedmen but who also can document Indian ancestors. According to the Cherokee Constitution, anyone who can document an Indian ancestor on the Dawes Rolls can be a citizen of the tribe.

Boren and Cole wrote of an “understanding” that had been reached among members of Congress to allow the courts to decide the status of non-Indian freedmen descendants in the Cherokee Nation instead of taking punitive legislative measures, such as cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal assistance for health care, education, and housing services, against a single Indian tribe. “This new letter of request from Congressional Members, some of whom directly participated in achieving that compromise, violates the spirit of those negotiations, and is a direct affront to tribal sovereignty and the rights of all parties to argue their positions in court. We ask that [Holder] instead honor President Obama’s stated position on this issue that Congress should not intervene in the matter, and instead allow the courts to settle disputes between the Freedmen and the related tribe.”

Significantly, the original letter sent to Holder was a first shot by these other members of Congress to widen their efforts beyond the Cherokee Nation to take on the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles on the non-Indian Freedmen citizenship issue.

“I thank Dan Boren and Tom Cole for understanding this fundamental right of governments and for standing up for the rights of Indian nations not only in Oklahoma but all over the country,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “The people of each of the Five Tribes have the right to decide who is a citizen of their own Nation. Each of our tribes has done that through a public, democratic process, by a vote of our people.”

Reps. Boren and Cole closed their letter by writing that they “firmly stand behind the right of Indian nations to have their case fairly decided in the judicial system, as ordered by the U.S. Constitution.”

Download: HolderLetterFreedmen20090507.pdf (145 KB)