tribal constitutions

Nooksack Issues TRO in Nooksack Tribal Christmas Checks Dispute with Proposed Disenrollees

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here are the new materials in St. Germaine v. Kelly (Nooksack Tribal Court):

St Germain v Kelly Brief in Support of TRO Relief

St Germain v Kelly Defendants’ Response in Opposition to Motion for TRO

St Germain v Kelly Order Granting Motion for TRO

An excerpt from the order:

Therefore, the Court finds that, at this preliminary TRO stage in this matter, the Defendants have violated the Nooksack Indian Tribe’s Constitution, Article IX and the Equal Protection clause of the Indian Civil Rights Act in passing Resolution 13-171 and acting upon it. The Court orders that the Defendants be enjoined from treating the proposed disenrollees differently from other tribal members with respect to the Christmas Support distribution. However, the Court finds that the Court cannot order specific relief requiring the expenditure of tribal funds. The Court hopes, however, that the Defendants will consider the implications of Resolution 13-171 and treat the Plaintiff proposed-disenrollees fairly, despite the fact that the Court is prohibited by the law from ordering them to do so.

Important New Scholarship on Muscogee Tribal Jurisprudence

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Sarah Deer and Cecelia Knapp have published “Muscogee Constitutional Jurisprudence: Vhakv Em Pvtakv (The Carpet Under The Law)” in the Tulsa Law Review. The paper is also available on SSRN.

The abstract:

In 1974, a group of Mvskoke citizens from Oklahoma sued the federal government in federal court. Hanging in the balance was the future of Mvskoke self-determination. The plaintiffs insisted that their 1867 Constitution remained in full effect, and that they still governed themselves pursuant to it. The United States argued that the constitution had been nullified by federal law passed in the early 1900s.

To find in favor of the plaintiffs, the court would have to rule that the United States had been ignoring the most basic civil rights of Mvskoke citizens and flouting the law for over seventy years. It would also have to find that a tribal government had been operating legitimately in the shadows—that the Mvskoke people had continued to operate under their constitution for most of the twentieth century despite official federal antagonism. It was definitely a long shot, but they won.

This article explores factors that have helped the Mvskoke people create, nurture, and sustain a constitutional government under hostile circumstances for centuries. We focus on the history and structure of the constitutional government of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. We consider several aspects of Creek conceptions of government structure and balance, which are also evidenced in the constitutional jurisprudence of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court. At first glance, the contemporary Mvskoke government today bears little resemblance to the ancient etvlwv town-based system of governance, but a more penetrating analysis reveals common threads of political theory and cosmogony, or world view, that have continued unabated.

Highly recommended!

Part 1: Update on Tribal Membership/Disenrollment Issues at Grand Ronde — Complaint Filed

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the complaint in Williams v. Leno (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Tribal Ct.):

Williams v Leno Grand Ronde Tribal Court Complaint For Sanctions And Declaratory Relief

And the accompanying press release:

Lawsuit Filed Against Officials of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Challenging Illegal Enrollment Audit and Resulting Disenrollment Proceedings
Grand Ronde, OR – An ethics lawsuit has been filed in Grand Ronde Tribal Court against top officials of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde regarding the proposed disenrollment of as many as 1,000 tribal members.  The lawsuit names the Tribal Council Chairman Reyn Leno and Enrollment Department Head Penny Deloe and alleges that they breached tribal law by disclosing members’ enrollment records and personal information to a third-party consulting firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Continue reading →

Part 2: Update on Tribal Membership/Disenrollment Issues at Grand Ronde — Tribe Statement

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is a statement from the tribe:

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is conducting an enrollment audit.  The audit fulfills one of the tasks assigned in the Tribal Strategic Plan for 2010, which was adopted in August of 2009.   That plan was formulated after nearly two years of development that began with a Strategic Futures conference in 2007 involving Tribal leaders and members. The plan directed Enrollment to audit all enrollment files and applications, track reasons for denials, and audit blood quantum records with the goal of strengthening the Grand Ronde Family Tree.

Recently some statements have cropped up on social media sites regarding the Tribe’s Enrollment audit.  One of them even featured the Tribe’s emblem and could have led people to believe it was an official statement from the Tribe.  It was not.  In addition, the statements contain extremely misleading and false information.  For example, the statement that up to 20% of the Tribe is being disenrolled is simply not true.  Audit proceedings are ongoing and in fact, over the last several months a number Tribal members and their families. have provided the necessary information to clear up inconsistencies in their files and resolve issues related to their enrollment.

Tribal Council cannot make any specific comments on the Enrollment Audit until audit proceedings have been completed.    The Tribal Council does not see enrollment files until an Enrollment Committee recommendation is presented.
There is an established process under the Enrollment Ordinance for addressing loss of membership that includes working with Enrollment Staff, then hearings before the Enrollment Committee, a hearing before Tribal Council., and ultimately an appeal to Tribal Court and the Tribal Court of Appeals.

Over the years our Tribal membership, through Constitutional amendments, has consistently pushed for tightening our membership requirements.   As elected officials the Tribal Council took an oath of office to uphold the Tribal Constitution and the laws of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.  In that same pledge, the Council swore that they would perform all duties required of them by the Constitution and the laws of the Tribe.  The Council knows this process is not any easy one for the Tribal community   But the Council is committed to getting through it with diligence and compassion.

We also attach an email we received from the tribe regarding our previous post, the contents of which we received from a reliable source, but apparently there was a misunderstanding on our part:

Dear Mr. Fletcher:

On Nov. 19 you posted an article regarding the Grand Ronde Tribe and some disenrollment actions.  The article is one that has been posted by an individual on several social media sites.  It is false and misleading.  I am troubled to see it on Turtle Talk, a site that represents Michigan State University’s Indigenous Law Center and one that holds credibility in the eyes of many readers, both Native and non-Native.  Here is the actual statement from the Grand Ronde Tribe on the current issue.  I hope you will see fit to correct the misrepresentation on Turtle Talk.

Sincerely,

Siobhan Taylor
Public Affairs Director
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

We always strive to give equal time to parties in dispute, and generally do not take sides. We let the material speak for itself.

Opening Nooksack COA Brief in Roberts v. Kelly

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Roberts v Kelly COA Opening Brief of Appellants

Lower court materials here.

Star-Tribune Coverage of White Earth Constitutional Referendum

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here.

White Earth Constitution Reform Vote, Results In

Victoria Sweet

White Earth Constitution vote: 2780 for, 712 against. Passed by 80 percent!

News article on the vote here.

Press Release: Mass Disenrollment at Grand Ronde

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Mass Disenrollment Hits the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde

Grand Ronde, OR – Up to  1,000 members (nearly 20% of the membership) of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon will be receiving letters of potential disenrollment, resulting in what could be the largest termination of American Indian citizenship in United States history.

15 members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde have already been disenrolled, and 79 cases are pending the outcome of hearings scheduled for December. These are the result of the second wave of disenrollment letters that were sent out in September. Tribal Council refuses to discuss the matter, with Tribal Councilman Toby McClary publicly stating that he did not want to disclose the details and incite panic within the membership.

The Grand Ronde Tribal Council’s mass disenrollment efforts contribute to a national Indian disenrollment epidemic, with disenrollment “expanding throughout Native America, with Native nations in at least seventeen states engaging in this practice,” according to leading tribal political scientist, David Wilkins (Indian Country Today).

Mass tribal disenrollments have broken out in Washington State and California and now Oregon (Seattle Times; New York Times).

The disenrollment proceedings stemmed from an illegal audit of the Tribe’s membership rolls by an outside auditing firm based in New Mexico and include nine sets of parameters, including dual enrollment, lineal descent, blood quantum, adoption and paternity.

One of the families facing disenrollment are the descendants of Chief Tumulth, who was a signatory of the seminal 1855 Kalapuya Treaty (also known as the Treaty of the Willamette Valley and the Dayton Treaty). Tumulth was the first chief of the Watlala Band of Chinook Indians, or “Cascade Indians,” whose ceded lands extended from Cascade Locks west to Ft. Vancouver on both sides of the Columbia River, following the Sandy River into Portland including Franz Lake National Wildlife Refuge in the Columbia Gorge.

“We are appalled that our own tribe, our own relatives, are claiming that we are some how no longer Grand Ronde. We descend directly from a tribal Chief, a man who signed the Treaty that would later establish the Grand Ronde Reservation,” stated family spokesperson, Mia Prickett. Continue reading →

Nooksack Disenrollment Update — New Case Filing, Adams v. Kelly — Briefs in Tribal Court Appeal

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the briefs in Lomeli v. Kelly (Nooksack Ct. App.):

Lomeli v Kelly Opening Brief of Appellants

Lomeli v Kelly COA Response Brief of Appellees

Lomeli v Kelly COA Reply Brief of Appellants

And a new case filing, Adams v. Kelly (Nooksack Tribal Ct.):

Adams v Kelly Motion for TRO

Adams v Kelly Defendants’ Opposition to to Plaintiffs’ Motion for TRO and Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss

Adams v Kelly Declaration of Rick D. George Tribal Council Vice Chairman

Adams v Kelly Amended Reply Re Motion for TRO

Adams v Kelly Order Denying Plaintiffs’ Motion for TRO

Tribal Court Rejects Effort to Stop Automatic Disenrollment of Nooksack Members in Violation of Court Order

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are the new materials in Lomeli v. Kelly (Nooksack Tribal Court):

Lomeli v Kelly Motion for Order Re Contempt

Lomeli v Kelly Defendants’ Opposition to Motion for Order to Show Cause RE Contempt

Lomeli v Kelly Motion for Contempt Reply

Lomeli v Kelly Order Denying Motion for Order to Show Cause

Apparently, four Nooksacks have been automatically disenrolled, since August, in violation of a Stipulation and Order in Lomeli providing that nobody would be disenrolled until all of the hearings were concluded.