Freedmen vs Cherokee Nation

I am truly stunned at the coverage in some newspapers of this case. In most cases, the coverage was less than fair and balanced and put a heavy spin on the Freedmen side of the story. I guess left wing extremists is quite correct. Apparently little regard has been given to what the case actually says and that the District Judge has the option to either dismiss or go forward with this case or any part of it I suspect - there is still the DOI as a defendant, that issue has not yet been addressed or what the courts interpretation is as to the 1866 Treaty. I suspect the Freedmen ought to wait until that decision comes before they start the party. And the comments by Rep Watson - congress should watch the Cherokee Officials? I suspect they would do better watching the Congressional Black Caucus - considering the Rev Wright controversy in the recent presidential campaigns and the secrecy of the Black Caucus - when a Black only group can walk all over the Cherokee Nation, they indeed would no...

Cherokee Nation News Release (918) 453-5378 FAX (918) 458-6181 Cherokee Nation Director of Communications@cherokee.org © Cherokee Nation - All Rights Reserved July 29, 2008 Freedmen Descendants' Lawsuit Against Cherokee Nation Dismissed D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rules that Cherokee Nation has sovereign immunity, Rejects Freedmen descendants' theory Opinion says tribal sovereign immunity existed since founding of U.S. and continues today WASHINGTON, DC. -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously dismissed a lawsuit against the Cherokee Nation brought by a handful of non-Indian Freedmen descendants. Judge Thomas Griffith, in his written opinion for the three members of the court, stated: “The Freedmen argue that our search for intent to abrogate is misguided because the Thirteenth Amendment and the 1866 Treaty predate the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity, such that the drafters of those texts could not have foreseen the inte...

http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/news/news.aspx?StoryID=2975 Jon Velie, lead counsel for the Freedmen, called the ruling a victory for the Freedmen. “The Court crafted an opinion that protects both tribal sovereignty and individual Indian civil rights. The treaty of 1866 coupled with the 13th Amendment prohibits Cherokee officials from denying fundamental rights to the Freedmen citizens. We can now proceed against US and Cherokee officials without toppling the principals of tribal sovereignty. This is a great day for Indian Country.” (this 13th amendment argument has me truly baffled - if the Cherokee Officials are acting in their capacity as Tribal Officials - then they are immune - unless they have a personal interest in the matter or are personally trying to deny a constitutional right such as due process - since the Cherokee attorney stipulated to an injunction, I'm having some difficulty understanding where there is a personal interest at stake here for any of the Cherokee Offic...

Appeals court: Freedmen can sue tribal officials by Marie Price The Journal Record July 30, 2008 OKLAHOMA CITY – Marilyn Vann of Oklahoma City has fond memories of her family honoring Cherokee heritage and rituals from the time she was a child. “This is who we are,” Vann said Tuesday following a federal appeals court decision holding that descendants of Cherokee freedmen, formerly slaves owned by the Cherokee Nation, can sue tribal officials for barring them from voting in 2003 tribal elections. The appellate panel left it up to a lower federal court to decide whether the overall case should proceed. for the complete story: http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recID=90940 (again - the Cherokee Attorney had stipulated to an injunction which was the remedy for forcing the Nation to place the Freedmen back on the rolls until the lawsuit is settled or ends or until Congresswoman Watson makes the Freedmen *Indian* with Federal Legislation - the Freedmen have no provable Cherokee Ancesto...

Cherokee officials open to lawsuit from Freedmen Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Filed Under: Law Officials of the Cherokee Nation, but not the tribe itself, can be sued by the Freedmen, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today. In a unanimous decision, the court said the tribe cannot be joined as an indispensable party to a lawsuit filed by descendants of former Cherokee slaves. The Freedmen plaintiffs sued the Interior Department to enforce an 1866 treaty. for the rest of the story: http://www.indianz.com/News/2008/010061.asp See also In Re Young below - this was the basis for the suit against Tribal Officials - an injunction which the Tribal attorney's had already stipulated to

Holy Cow - the District Court hasn't even had a trial on this yet... lol ... http://www.jalagi.org/pressreleasejul2908.pdf The only thing this case ruled on was whether or not the Cherokee Nation had immunity and as to the Cherokee Officials, the only thing was to issue an injunction to add the Freedmen back onto the roles, which the Cherokee Nation has already stipulated to. The case hasn't even been heard yet, so I'm not sure what victory they are referring to here....:)

Link to the Federal Appeals Opinion: http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/200807/07-5024-1130149.pdf Federal Court rules in Cherokee Nation's favor on Tribal Immunity Tribal Officers not immune from suit. This case is going to hold tribal officials responsible for their actions under Ex Parte Young, more on this later. This is a Federal Appeals court, so this will make the litigation very far from finished. The question will be whether or not the Tribal Officials were acting on behalf of the Cherokee Nation or had a personal interest? If acting on behalf of the Tribe, I'd say they would not be liable - recall there was a democratic vote on this - however, it also appears the only thing that could be done, is to issue an injunction - which the Cherokee Nation has already stipulated to. I don't see where the Chief or the Council had a *personal* interest in this issue other than implementing the vote of the people and this has been an issue within the Cherokee Natio...

(sorry but some of these old cases are like wading through the under brush of a forrest that the environmentalists have protected from management - they are long and confusing and you're never quite sure what they say or where you're going.) Link to the Case Preview: http://supreme.justia.com/us/123/443/ Link to the Full Text of Case: http://supreme.justia.com/us/123/443/case.html U.S. Supreme Court In re Ayres, 123 U.S. 443 (1887) In re Ayres Argued November 14-15, 1887 Decided December 5, 1887 123 U.S. 443 ORIGINAL Syllabus It is well settled in this Court that while the exercise of the power of punishment for contempt of their orders by courts of general jurisdiction is not subject to review by writ of error, or by appeal, yet, when a court of the United States undertakes, by its process of contempt, to punish a man for refusing to comply with an order which that court had no authority to make, the original order being void for want of jurisdiction, the order punishing for c...