Here: GTB Opinion.
Earlier materials in related matters are here.
tribal election
Navajo Supreme Court Opinion Denying Pres. Shirley from Running for a Third Term at Navajo
Here is the opinion in Todacheene v. Shirley.
News Coverage of GTB Election Delays (and Copies of GTB Election Board Decisions)
Election Board decisions: Election Board Opinion Russell McClellan 7 13 10 and Election Board Supplemental Opinion.
From the Leelanau Enterprise:
A General Election to seat three members of the seven-member Tribal Council of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has been delayed yet again.
The election was slated to occur today, July 15, but has been postponed for a third time. A new date had not been determined as of press time this week.
The tribe’s appointed Election Board met in special sessions on Monday and Tuesday to hear testimony, review evidence and discuss a complaint that one of the six candidates in the election failed to comply with election regulations by campaigning during working hours and taking other actions that threatened the integrity of the election process.
Former Tribal Councilor and current candidate Thurlow “Sam” McClellan was accused of campaigning during working hours by having phone conversations with incumbent Tribal Councilor Brian Napont, whose term does not expire until 2012. During the conversation, McClellan and Napont were heard in a recorded conversation disparaging other candidates and incumbent tribal leaders.
The phone conversations had been recorded, apparently inadvertently, through a voice mail system in a tribal office. The recordings were subsequently copied and distributed among tribal members by third parties.
“While it is clear that McClellan did not intend for his phone conversation with Napont to be recorded, or for it to be circulated among members of the tribe, the fact remains that the message was recorded, and that the message has been circulating among Tribal voters,” according to an opinion and determination issued by the Election Board on Tuesday evening.
Grand Traverse Band Election Postponed Again
Here is the news coverage: Election Delayed Again July 14 2010
And the Election Board decision: Election Board Opinion Russell McClellan 7 13 10
GTB Primary Election Certified
From the Leelanau Enterprise:
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians on June 10 completed a successful Primary Election process after experiencing delays earlier this spring.
“No challenges were filed and we certified the Primary Election,” reported Desmond Berry, chairman of the tribal Election Board. “We are moving forward with our schedule of events and look forward to a July 15, 2010 General Election,” he said.
The primary was originally scheduled for April with the General Election slated for last month. Election challenges delayed the process, however. The names of three candidates were removed from the original Primary Election ballot after the Election Board determined the three had violated campaign rules.
One of the candidates, incumbent tribal councilor Rebecca Woods, appealed the Election Board’s determination to the Tribal Judiciary. But the Election Board’s determination was upheld by the panel of Tribal Court judges.
Woods has since resigned from the Tribal Council and accepted a position as the tribe’s chief financial officer. The names of candidates Gail Diaz and Angela Shinos were also removed from the Primary Election ballot.
Navajo Reapportionment Map
From the Navajo Times via Pechanga:
The reapportionment map representing the plan approved Friday. 
Download a large-format PDF version of the map. (2.1 MB, requires Adobe Reader.)
* * *
The Navajo Board of Election Supervisors approved on Friday a reapportionment plan dividing the Navajo Nation into 24 voting districts for a new, reduced tribal council election.
The board also voted to extend the filing deadline for council delegate candidates by one business day, to 5 p.m. Monday, June 14. This will give candidates at least a little time to acquaint themselves with the new apportionment plan, the board said.
“This is good,” said President Joe Shirley Jr., who presented the plan approved by the board. “This is something we should have done a long time ago. We are moving along and progressing.”
The board unanimously approved both measures.
Fletcher on “Race and American Indian Tribal Nationhood” — UPDATED
“Race and American Indian Tribal Nationhood” is available for download here. [The paper is there now, sorry.]
Here is the abstract:
Modern American Indian nations face a racial paradox. On one hand, the citizenry of Indian nations is almost exclusively based in race, ethnicity, and ancestry. Indian nations would not be “Indian” without this basis. But American constitutional principles dictate that laws based on racial, ethnic, or ancestral classifications are highly disfavored. For Indian nations, this means that Indian governments have virtually no authority to regulate the activities of the non-Indian citizens that live amongst Indian communities. This paper offers a long-term solution to this conundrum, a solution that requires Indian nations and American courts and policymakers to modernize understandings about American Indian tribal nationhood. American Indian law and policy forced Indian nations into a legal status akin to “domestic racial nations.” By tweaking Indian citizenship requirements, and recognizing the national character of modern Indian nations, modern Indian nations should more properly be understood as simply “domestic nations,” much like Monaco and The Vatican.
Constructive feedback welcome.
Navajo Supreme Court Decides Cases on the Removal of the President and the Reduction of the Tribal Council
Here are these opinions:
Navajo Nation Council Attacks on Navajo Judiciary?
Here are three competing press releases from various branches of Navajo government (two of three, as Paul notes below):
Navajo Judiciary Committee on Court Reform
Navajo Office of Legislative Counsel Opinion on Pres. Shirley’s Effort to Run for a Third Term
Here it is: CLC0110
And here is news coverage of President Shirley’s announcement he’s running for a third term by relying on Dine Fundamental Law.
Turtle Talk 
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