¹ Ahnawake Carroll is a Juris Doctorate candidate at the University of New Mexico School of Law.

² TILLER’S GUIDE TO INDIAN COUNTRY 502 (Veronica E. Velarde Tiller ed., 1996) [hereinafter TILLER’S].

³ Id.

⁴ NATIVE AMERICA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA 97 (Mary B. Davis ed., 1994) [hereinafter NATIVE AMERICA].

⁵ TILLER’S, supra note 1, at 502.

⁶ Id.

⁷ NATIVE AMERICA, supra note 3, at 95.

⁸ TILLER’S, supra note 1, at 502.

⁹ Id. See also NATIVE AMERICA, supra note 3, at 95.

¹⁰ TILLER’S, supra note 1, at 503.

¹¹ RENNARD STRICKLAND, FIRE AND THE SPIRITS 10 (1975).

¹² WILLIAM G. McLOUGHLIN, CHEROKEE RENASCENCE IN THE NEW REPUBLIC 10–11 (1986).

¹³ WILMA MANKILLER & MICHAEL WALLIS, MANKILLER: A CHIEF AND HER PEOPLE 19 (1993).

¹⁴ JOHN PHILLIP RE_Id._ A LAW OF BLOOD: THE PRIMITIVE LAW OF THE CHEROKEE NATION 30 (1970).

¹⁵ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 10.

¹⁶ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 11.

¹⁷ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 4.

¹⁸ Id.

¹⁹ Id. at 15.

²⁰ Chadwick Smith & Stephanie Birdwell, Cherokee Courts: A Historical and Modern Perspective 7 (1993) (on file with author).

²¹ RE_Id._ supra note 13, at 231.

²² Id. at 233.

²³ Id. at 233–5.

²⁴ Id. at 41.

²⁵ THEDA PERDUE, CHEROKEE WOMEN: GENDER AND CULTURE CHANGE, 1700–1835, at 42 (1998).

²⁶ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 19.

²⁷ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 11.

²⁸ Id. at 12.

²⁹ JOHN PHILLIP RE_Id._ A Perilous Rule: The Law of International Homic_Id._, in THE CHEROKEE INDIAN NATION 33 (1979).

³⁰ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 28.

³¹ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 12.

³² MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 19.

³³ PERDUE, supra note 24, at 44.

³⁴ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 3.

³⁵ Id. at 25, 31.

³⁶ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 79–80.

³⁷ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 25, 31.

³⁸ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 45.

³⁹ Id. at 54.

⁴⁰ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 32.

⁴¹ V. RICHARD PERSICO JR., Early Nineteenth–Century Cherokee Political Organization, in THE CHEROKEE INDIAN NATION, supra note 24, at 96.

⁴² McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 57.

⁴³ Id.

⁴⁴ Id. at 287.

⁴⁵ See McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 45, 287; See STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 56, 58, 64, 65.

⁴⁶ RE_Id._ supra note 28, at 92.

⁴⁷ HENRY THOMPSON MALONE, CHEROKEES OF THE OLD SOUTH 82 (1956).

⁴⁸ PERSICO, supra note 40, at 99.

⁴⁹ WILLIAM G. McLOUGHLIN, AFTER THE TRAIL OF TEARS: THE CHEROKEE’S STRUGGLE FOR SOVEREIGNTY 1839–1880, at 305 (1993).

⁵⁰ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 287.

⁵¹ Id. at 330.

⁵² Id. at 45.

⁵³ Id. at 287.

⁵⁴ Id. at 226.

⁵⁵ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 183.

⁵⁶ Id.

⁵⁷ Telephone Interview with Diane Blalock Hammons, Director, Cherokee Nation Law and Justice Department (Sept. 26, 2001).

⁵⁸ Id.

⁵⁹ Id.

⁶⁰ Id.

⁶¹ Id.

⁶² E–mail from Rennard Strickland, Dean and Philip H. Knight Professor of Law, University of Oregon School of Law, to author (Sept. 28, 2001, 11:56:00 MST) (on file with author).

⁶³ 10 CHEROKEE NATION CODE ANNOTATED § 40.2 (3) (1993) [hereinafter CNCA].

⁶⁴ 21 CNCA § 1765 (1993).

⁶⁵ RENNARD STRICKLAND, THE INDIANS IN OKLAHOMA 108 (1980).

⁶⁶ 43 CNCA § 4 (1993).

⁶⁷ 20 CNCA § 1 (1993).

⁶⁸ CONST. OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA art. V, § 10.

⁶⁹ E–mail from Darell R. Matlock, Jr., Justice, Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal, to author (Sept. 27, 2001, 04:13:00 MST) (on file with author).

⁷⁰ E–mail from Darrell Dowty, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation (Sept. 26, 2001, 04:46:00 MST) (on file with author).

⁷¹ Id.

⁷² Id.

⁷³ Hammons, supra note 56.

⁷⁴ Id.

⁷⁵ Dowty, supra note 69.

⁷⁶ Strickland, supra note 61.

⁷⁷ Id.

⁷⁸ Id.

⁷⁹ Id.

⁸⁰ Id.

⁸¹ See Id.

⁸² Strickland, supra note 61.

⁸³ Id.

⁸⁴ Id.

⁸⁵ The Cherokee Nation Official Site (2001), at http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/LegislativeBranch.asp.

⁸⁶ Id.

⁸⁷ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 19.

⁸⁸ The Cherokee Nation Official Site, supra note 84.

⁸⁹ THOMAS E. MAILS, THE CHEROKEE PEOPLE 91 (1992).

⁹⁰ Id.

⁹¹ The Cherokee Nation Official Site (2001), at http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/ExecutiveBranch.asp.

⁹² The Cherokee Nation Official Site, supra note 84.

⁹³ The Cherokee Nation Official Site, supra note 90.

⁹⁴ Id.

⁹⁵ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 19.

⁹⁶ Id.

⁹⁷ MAILS, supra note 88, at 93.

⁹⁸ The Cherokee Nation Official Site, supra note 84.

⁹⁹ Id.

¹⁰⁰ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 10–11.

¹⁰¹ DUANE CHAMPAGNE, SOCIAL ORDER AND POLITICAL CHANGE 31 (1992).

¹⁰² PERDUE, supra note 24, at 135.

¹⁰³ See McLOUGHLIN, supra note 11, at 3.

¹⁰⁴ PERSICO, supra note 40, at 96.

¹⁰⁵ See Id.

¹⁰⁶ PERDUE, supra note 24, at 135.

¹⁰⁷ PERSICO, supra note 40, at 92.

¹⁰⁸ Id. at 97.

¹⁰⁹ Id. at 105.

¹¹⁰ PERDUE, supra note 24, at 142. See also RE_Id._ supra note 13, at 231, 233 (stating that this change was important because prior to the centralization of the Cherokee government, clans assumed responsibility for defining indiv_Id._al actions and responsibilities).

¹¹¹ PERDUE, supra note 24, at 143.

¹¹² CHAMPAGNE, supra note 100, at 105.

¹¹³ PERDUE, supra note 24, at 145 (noting that these changes “further undermined the authority of local town councils”).

¹¹⁴ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 83–84.

¹¹⁵ Id.

¹¹⁶ CONST. OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF 1827 art. II, § 1, in STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 228.

¹¹⁷ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 84.

¹¹⁸ Id. at 86.

¹¹⁹ PERSICO, supra note 40, at 101.

¹²⁰ Id.

¹²¹ See Id.

¹²² McLOUGHLIN, supra note 48, at 2, 3.

¹²³ Id.

¹²⁴ Foreword to CNCA, at VII (1993).

¹²⁵ Id.

¹²⁶ McLOUGHLIN, supra note 48, at 21.

¹²⁷ Id. at 22.

¹²⁸ Justice Philip H. Viles, Jr., Keynote Address at the Second Annual Native American Symposium at the University of Arkansas, in GREGORY UPTON, A HISTORY OF THE JUDICIAL APPEALS TRIBUNAL (SUPREME COURT) OF THE CHEROKEE NATION 1990–1996 app. at Newspaper Articles (1996) (on file with author) [hereinafter A HISTORY OF THE JUDICIAL APPEALS TRIBUNAL].

¹²⁹ STRICKLAND, supra note 64, at 51.

¹³⁰ Viles, supra note 127, at app. at Newspaper Articles. See also Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 17 (As a result of the Dawes Commission, the Oklahoma Enabling Act of 1907, and fluctuating federal Indian policies, “[t]he Cherokee people were bureaucratically prevented from electing their own Principal Chief and legislature” while “[s]chools and services previously controlled by the Cherokee Nation were administered through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”).

¹³¹ Letter from Dwight Birdwell, Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal Chief Justice, to Joe Byrd, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (Sept. 5, 1995) in A HISTORY OF THE JUDICIAL APPEALS TRIBUNAL, supra note 127, at app. at Letters and Related Documents.

¹³² Viles, supra note 127, at app. at Newspaper Articles. See also STANLEY W. HOIG, THE CHEROKEE AND THEIR CHIEFS 261 (1998) (“Congress authorized the pres_Id._nt of the United States to appoint principal chiefs for the Cherokees.”).

¹³³ Viles, supra note 127, at app. at Newspaper Articles; Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 19.

¹³⁴ Viles, supra note 127, at app. at Newspaper Articles; HOIG, supra note 131, at 262.

¹³⁵ Viles, supra note 127, at app. at Newspaper Articles.

¹³⁶ Id.

¹³⁷ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 217.

¹³⁸ Id. at 218.

¹³⁹ Viles, supra note 127, at app. at Newspaper Articles.

¹⁴⁰ MANKILLER & WALLIS, supra note 12, at 218.

¹⁴¹ The Cherokee Nation Official Site (2001), at http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/Government.asp.

¹⁴² Id.

¹⁴³ CONST. OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA pmbl.

¹⁴⁴ Id. at art. IV.

¹⁴⁵ Id. at art. XVII.

¹⁴⁶ The Cherokee Nation Official Site, supra note 140.

¹⁴⁷ Id.

¹⁴⁸ Id.

¹⁴⁹ Id.

¹⁵⁰ CONST. OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA art. VI, § 2.

¹⁵¹ The Cherokee Nation Official Site, supra note 140.

¹⁵² The Cherokee Nation Official Site, supra note 84.

¹⁵³ Id.

¹⁵⁴ CONST. OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA art. VII.

¹⁵⁵ Id.

¹⁵⁶ Id.

¹⁵⁷ Id.

¹⁵⁸ Id.

¹⁵⁹ 20 CNCA § 11 (1993).

¹⁶⁰ Id.

¹⁶¹ CONST. OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA art. XIII, § 1.

¹⁶² Id. at art. XIV (arguably referring to religious freedom).

¹⁶³ Id. at art. XVIII.

¹⁶⁴ The Cherokee Nation Official Website (2001), at http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/EnablingList.asp.

¹⁶⁵ Id.

¹⁶⁶ Id.

¹⁶⁷ Id.

¹⁶⁸ Id. (including additional enabling and support programs: the Internal Audit and Review Division, the Finance Management Division, the Gaming Commission, the General Council Division, the Human Resources Division, the Information Systems Division, the Law and Justice Department, the Planning and Development Division, Natural Resources, Real Estate Services, the Tax Commission, the Tribal Operations Division, the Constitution Convention Commission, and the Cherokee Nation Tag Office).

¹⁶⁹ PERSICO, supra note 40, at 99.

¹⁷⁰ MALONE, supra note 46, at 76.

¹⁷¹ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 58.

¹⁷² MALONE, supra note 46, at 77.

¹⁷³ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 211–226.

¹⁷⁴ See Generally THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE CHEROKEE NATION of 1839–51 (prov_Id._ng reproduction of all laws enacted from 1839-1851 and reproduction of the 1839 Constitution) [hereinafter CONSTITUTION AND LAWS].

¹⁷⁵ See Generally Id. at 17–239.

¹⁷⁶ MORRIS WARDELL, A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, 1838–1907, at 300 (1938).

¹⁷⁷ Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 36.

¹⁷⁸ Id.

¹⁷⁹ Id.

¹⁸⁰ Id. at 5.

¹⁸¹ Foreword to CONSTITUTION AND LAWS, supra note 173.

¹⁸² Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 36.

¹⁸³ CONST. OF THE CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA art. V, § 7.

¹⁸⁴ CNCA at vii (1986).

¹⁸⁵ Id.

¹⁸⁶ Id. at ix.

¹⁸⁷ Id.

¹⁸⁸ 3, 7, 10, 19 CNCA (1993). See also 1–22 CNCA (1993) (including other titles: Agriculture and Livestock; Commerce, Trade and Industrial Development; Conservation and Natural Resources Council, Domestic Relations, Education; Fish, Game and Wildlife; Health and Social Services; Highways, Motor Vehicles and Traffic; Insurance, Labor and Industrial Relations, Minors, Office of the Principal Chief and Deputy Principal Chief; Public Communications, Transportation and Utilities; Revenue and Taxation, and Waters and Water Rights).

¹⁸⁹ Foreword to CNCA, at VII (1993).

¹⁹⁰ Id.

¹⁹¹ Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 37.

¹⁹² Foreword to CNCA, at VII (1993).

¹⁹³ Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 38.

¹⁹⁴ Table of Contents to CNCA vol. 1, at III, vol. 2, at III, IV (1993).

¹⁹⁵ See 1–86 CNCA (1993) (including titles: Abstracting, Agriculture and Animals, Aircraft and Airports, Amusements and Sports, Attorneys, Banks and Trust Companies, Blind Persons, Cemeteries, Census, Children, Citizenship, Civil Procedure, Common Carriers, Contracts, Conveyances, Commissions, Corporations, Council, Courts and Procedures, Crimes and Punishments, Criminal Procedure, Damages, Debtor and Creditor, Definitions and General Provisions, Elections, Eminent Domain, Ethics, Game and Fish, Guardian and Ward, Heritage, Housing, Inebriates, Initiative and Referendum, Insane and Feeble Minded Persons, Insurance, Intoxicating Liquors, Jurors, Justices, Labor, Landlord and Tenant, Language, Marriage and Family, Mental Health, Mines and Mining, Mortgages, Motor Vehicles, Negotiable Instruments, Notaries Public, Nuisance, Officers, Oil and Gas, Historical Societies and Associations, Partnership, Pledges, Poor Persons, Prisons and Reformatories, Probate Procedures, Professions and Occupations, Property, Public Buildings and Public Works, Public Finance, Public Health and Safety, Public Lands, Public Libraries, Records, Revenue and Taxation; Roads, Br_Id._es and Ferries; Schools and Education, Securities, Sovereignty, State Government, Statutes and Reports, Torts, Towns and Communities, Trusts and Pools, United States, Waters and Water Rights, Wills and Succession, and Worker’s Compensation).

¹⁹⁶ Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 38.

¹⁹⁷ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 73.

¹⁹⁸ Id. at 104.

¹⁹⁹ Id. at 117.

²⁰⁰ Id. at 103.

²⁰¹ Id. at 117.

²⁰² Id. at 118.

²⁰³ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 118.

²⁰⁴ Id. at 152.

²⁰⁵ Id.

²⁰⁶ Id. at 153.

²⁰⁷ Id. at 159.

²⁰⁸ Id.

²⁰⁹ STRICKLAND, supra note 10, at 161.

²¹⁰ Id. at 163.

²¹¹ Id.

²¹² Id. at 175.

²¹³ Id.

²¹⁴ Id.

²¹⁵ Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 27.

²¹⁶ Id.

²¹⁷ Id.

²¹⁸ 20 CNCA §52 (1993).

²¹⁹ Smith & Birdwell, supra note 19, at 44.

²²⁰ Id.

²²¹ 20 CNCA § 56 (1993).

²²² Id. (“Each decision shall be attended or preceded by a distinct statement of the issue between the parties, the situation of the case as set forth by the ev_Id._nce before the court, the law or laws governing the case, and the interpretation and application of the same by the court, with the reasons therefor, and the principles of law or ev_Id._nce involved in the suit and affecting the decision thereof; and of such other matters and cons_Id._rations, having relation to the decision, which the court may deem essential….”).

²²³ Id.

²²⁴ Id. § 54.

²²⁵ Dowty, supra note 69 (stating it is unclear what would constitute traditional precedent or what time period would be sufficient for the Tribunal to take it under advisement).

²²⁶ 20 CNCA §55 (1993).

²²⁷ The Cherokee Nation Official Website (2001), at http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/JudicialBranch.asp.

²²⁸ Dist. Ct. Rule § 1, cl. 3 in CNCA, at 1039 (1993).

²²⁹ Id.

²³⁰ Id.

²³¹ Id.

²³² Id.

²³³ The Cherokee Nation Official Website (2001), at http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/SR2001CommunityPage.asp?_Id._1.

²³⁴ E–mail from Leigh Ann McGee, Cherokee Nation Washington, D.C. Office, to author (Oct. 18, 2001, 05:37:00 MST) (on file with author).

²³⁵ McGee, supra note 233.