Cherokee Nation: "Freedmen" are citizens and can vote
The Muskogee Phoenix reports: Cherokee Freedman retain tribal citizenship under the tribe’s 1975 constitution and are legally entitled to vote, the tribe’s highest court ruled 2-1 Tuesday.
“This will end up being a decision of historic importance,” said Tahlequah attorney Nate Young III, a Cherokee.
Freedmen will again have the right to access tribal services and to vote in tribal elections, Young said.
Judicial Appeals Tribunal Justices Tracy Leeds and Darrell Dowty concurred that to exclude a class of citizens from membership, the constitution would have to do so with specific and clear language.
“Exclusion cannot be left to inference by omission or by silence.,” Dowty said.
Lucy Allen, 73, a Freedmen, sued the tribal council, the tribal registrar and the tribal registration committee in November 2004 because legislation at the time said she had to prove she was “Cherokee by blood.” -- Freedmen are tribal citizens
"Freedmen" are the descendants of slaves owned by the Cherokees. The Court's decision is here.