| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Diane B. |
Posted - August 24 2005 : 11:22:32 AM
Greetings, Everyone,
I just ran across this interesting article & wanted to share it with everyone here in Mohicanland:
Tribe may prosecute famous American Indian activist
Reuters
Tuesday, August 23, 2005; 4:37 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Affirming the sovereign powers of American Indian tribes, a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday ruled the Navajo tribe may prosecute American Indian activist Russell Means even though he is not one of its members.
Means, a member of the Oglala-Sioux Tribe of Indians and one the best known American Indian activists, had sought to prevent the Navajo Nation from criminally prosecuting him for an incident on the Navajo Reservation.
The Navajo Nation wants to press misdemeanor charges against Means for allegedly threatening and battering his then-father-in-law and allegedly threatening a Navajo Indian at its reservation, which covers 25,000 square miles (64,750 km sq) in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.
Means challenged the authority of a Navajo tribal court, saying it did not have jurisdiction over him because he is not a member of the Navajo Nation.
Means also said his rights as a U.S. citizen would be threatened if he were prosecuted by a tribe that discriminated against him by barring him from joining it because of his ancestry.
The San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said it found Means' equal-protection argument forceful. But writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Andrew Kleinfeld held that Congress by amending the Indian Civil Rights Act in 1990 allowed tribes to "exercise inherent sovereign judicial power in criminal cases against nonmember Indians for crimes committed on the tribe's reservation."
Means' lawyer, John Trebon of Flagstaff, Arizona, said he is inclined to request the full appeals court reconsider the case.
A leader of the American Indian Movement, Means led the group's 1973 protest against the federal government in a 71-day standoff with authorities at the Pine Ridge Reservation near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where U.S. troops and Sioux Indians battled in 1890. The U.S. victory there essentially ended armed conflicts with tribes known as the Indian wars. |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Emily |
Posted - August 26 2005 : 8:47:41 PM
Tsk tsk, temper temper. I assumed he had an aggressive personality but, my goodness. Wonder what started it? Sometimes I get mad at my boyfriends parents but can in-laws be that bad? |
| Monadnock Guide |
Posted - August 25 2005 : 10:11:11 PM
Goin' after an in-law huh? Mmmm, I could understand that! ... ;) |
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