Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is not a Sovereigh or federally recognized tribe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) July 21, 2007 -- government are, in fact, dangerously deficient and will likely remain so until the Cherokee people decide to convene an authentic constitutional convention and reorganize under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936 (OIWA).

After all, how could a tribal government claiming a membership in excess of 160,000 and spending some $86 million annually acknowledge that its right to govern was uncertain, if not completely unfounded in a legitimate constitutional document? In the face of such a disturbing inquiry, the preferred solution has apparently been to pretend that the problem does not exist and have tribal attorneys rewrite Cherokee legal history to make it comport with whatever exercise of power the current administration deems useful at the moment.

The status of the CNO as a legitimate tribal government vested with the same powers of internal self-governance enjoyed by all other tribal governments is suspect for at least three compelling reasons. First, around the turn of the century, Congress expressly extinguished several important sovereign powers of the Cherokee Nation which may only be restored by a rehabilitating act of Congress or by CNO reorganization under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936 (OIWA). Second, the procedures adopted for the drafting and ratification of the 1975 constitution violated the 1839 constitution and were not otherwise authorized by law. Third, the alleged popular ratification of the 1975 constitution may have been fraudulent. Each of these problems will be explored in this article.

Statutory Disabilities

Around the turn of the century, Congress enacted several laws which expressly stripped the Cherokee Nation of certain powers of internal self-governance.

Unlawful Ratification Procedures

Since the 1975 constitution of the CNO was not ratified pursuant to the OIWA, the CNO does not enjoy the same legal protections as tribes which have elected to reorganize under the OIWA. Practically speaking, this means that many of the allotment era enactments limiting the powers of the Cherokee Nation may still be in force. Apart from these statutory limitations, there are additional and even more troubling grounds on which to question the legitimacy of the CNO government arising from the strange circumstances surrounding the drafting and ratification of the 1975 constitution.