OKMULGEE – On Friday, Dec 5 the Muscogee Creek Nation Citizenship Board delivered its first monthly status report to the MCN Supreme Court. Previously, the court ordered the Citizenship Board to grant citizenship to Freedmen descendents Rhonda Grayson and Jeffery Kennedy on July 23. When the board had not complied with the order a month later, Grayson and Kennedy filed a motion for contempt with the MCN Supreme Court. The court denied the motion, finding that the Citizenship Board was trying to comply, but on Oct 27, the motion for contempt was renewed. The MCN SC then ordered the Citizenship Board to deliver monthly status reports on Nov. 13.
According to the report, the board was given proposed code amendments by Counsel for the Executive Branch and the Attorney General’s Office on Oct 24. The board then returned comments on the proposed changes on Oct 29. The report states that after this date the board was unaware what action had been taken.
The report further states that letters were sent to both the MCN National Council and Principal Chief’s office requesting information. These letters were included as exhibits within the report.
While the Citizenship Board did not receive a response from the National Council, Principal Chief David Hill responded with a letter that is also included as an exhibit in the board’s report. The letter reads:
As a general matter, I, as Principal Chief, do not want to be uncooperative and do not want to impede the ability of the Board to provide an appropriate response to the Court as the Board sees fit. However, I am not a party in the Grayson case, and, as a matter of separation of powers, information about the implementation of the Constitutional duties and responsibilities of the Executive Branch departments and officials, including communication with the National Council on proposed legislation, falls under the exclusive province of the Principal Chief and is not generally subject to disclosure except as required by Nation law.
Notwithstanding those objections, I can provide the following general responses:
1. Executive departments continue to review internal policies and procedures to determine the amendments that may be necessary; however, it is difficult for departments to be able to modify internal policies and procedures adequately and completely until final amendments to Title 7 (Citizenship Code) have been approved by National Council and enacted into law.
2. Executive branch officials and legal counsel continue to have discussions with the Office of the Attorney General on proposed amendments to Title 7. These proposed amendments were shared with the Board, and I have received some initial comments from the Board. I have also updated the Speaker of the National Council on the status of these proposed amendments, and we have been discussing the need for scheduling a possible joint committee meeting between the Health, Education, and Welfare Committee and the Business, Finance, and Justice Committee to consider the proposed Title 7 amendments. I am not involved in the decision-making process of scheduling Committee meetings of the National Council, so I cannot provide information on when any meeting will be set to consider proposed Code amendments.
