William S. FLETCHER, Individually; Charles A. Pratt, Jr., Individually; Juanita West, Individually; and Betty Woody, Individually; and on Behalf of Themselves and of All Other Persons Similarly Situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America; Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of Interior; Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs; Gordon Jackson, Superintendent of the Osage Indian Agency; Osage Tribal Council and each individual member thereof; Charles Tillman, Jr., as Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe and Individually; Edward Red Eagle, Sr., as Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe and Individually, Defendants-Appellants.
No. 95-5208.
United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
June 10, 1997.
116 F.3d 1315
Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General, Washington, DC; Steven C. Lewis, United States Attorney, and Phil Pinnel, Assistant United States Attorney, Tulsa, OK; Albert M. Ferlo, Jr., and David C. Shilton, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, on the brief only, for Defendants-Appellants United States; Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs; and Gordon Jackson, Superintendent of the Osage Indian Agency.
Tracy A. Labin and K. Jerome Gottschalk of the Native American Rights Fund, Boulder, CO, filed an amicus curiae brief for the Osage National Council.
Before BALDOCK, BRORBY and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.
Four individuals of Osage ancestry, some of whom were not entitled to vote in tribal elections or hold tribal office because they do not own an interest in the Osage mineral estate or headright, brought this suit to challenge the validity of the franchise re
Plaintiffs William S. Fletcher, Charles A. Pratt, Jr., Juanita West, and Betty Woody (“Individual Plaintiffs“) brought this action. Defendants include the United States; Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs; and Gordon Jackson, Superintendent of the Osage Indian Agency (“Federal Defendants“); and the Osage Tribal Council, along with its individual members; Charles O. Tillman, Jr., Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe; and Edward Red Eagle, Sr., Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe (“Tribal Defendants“).
I. History
In 1881, the Osage people adopted a constitution which established a tribal government loosely patterned after the United States government. See H.R.Rep. No. 92-963, at 7 (1972). This government operated until 1900, when the Secretary of the Interior purportedly abolished it. Id. However, one division of the government, consisting of a principal chief, an assistant principal chief, and a 15-member council, refused to dissolve. Id.
Congress subsequently adopted the Act of June 28, 1906, 34 Stat. 539, which accomplished several important things. The 1906 Act called for the creation of a tribal membership roll,2 allotted Osage lands, set aside a trust fund consisting of proceeds from the sale of Osage lands in Kansas and income from the Osage mineral estate, and prescribed a tribal government. See H.R.Rep. No. 92-963, at 8. Each Osage whose name appeared on the roll received one “headright” in the tribal mineral estate. Id. at 8-9. Osages who own an interest in a headright are known as “allotted” members of the Osage Tribe and have traditionally enjoyed the right to vote in tribal elections, hold tribal office, and receive a share in quarterly distributions of tribal income. Id. Osages born after the closing of the 1908 roll and who have not acquired a headright interest are known as “unallotted” Osages and have not enjoyed the right to vote in tribal elections or hold tribal office. Id. By the 1970‘s, many persons of Osage ancestry did not own headrights and could not vote in tribal elections. See id. at 9; Felix S. Cohen‘s Handbook of Federal Indian Law 791 (Rennard Strickland, ed. 1982). At various times, persons of Osage descent have sought, to no avail, the assistance of Congress and the federal bureaucracy to extend the franchise to include Osages owning no headright interests.
In the 1970‘s, seven enrolled members of the Osage Tribe filed suit in federal district court seeking a declaration limiting the powers of the Osage Tribal Council. See
II. District Court Proceedings
Taking up where Logan left off, Individual Plaintiffs filed this suit in federal district court in March, 1990. They alleged that some of them do not own headrights and do not enjoy the right to vote in tribal elections. According to their second amended complaint, they sought a declaration on the validity of the 1881 Constitution and claimed that the restriction of the right to vote to headright owners who are 18 years of age violated the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the equal protection clause of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
In August, 1990, Tribal Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, contending that the case was barred by the tribe‘s sovereign immunity. Federal Defendants joined Tribal Defendants’ motion to dismiss.
Ignoring repeated requests for a ruling on the motion to dismiss, the district court set about for over five years to resolve what it perceived to be the voting rights issue. The district court established a commission to propose reforms for the Osage constitution and system of government. The commission proposed a new constitution, which provided for an Osage president, vice president, and a national council. The district court eventually ordered a referendum, and on February 4, 1994, a majority of a greatly expanded Osage electorate voted to adopt the Constitution of the Osage Nation (“1994 Constitution“). Later that year, a president, vice president, and a national council were selected in separate elections. Subsequently, the Bureau of Indian Affairs acknowledged the Osage Nation of Oklahoma by publication in the Federal Register.4
On September 8, 1995, the district court issued a final order, which among other things, declared moot Tribal Defendants’ motion to dismiss on the ground of sovereign immunity. Not only did the district court not reach the merits of the sovereign immunity defense, it also did not reach the merits of the claims of Individual Plaintiffs.
III. Case or Controversy
In light of the franchise expansion, the referendum, and the election of new Osage officials under the 1994 Constitution, the district court ruled that the issues raised by the pleadings of Individual Plaintiffs as well as the sovereignty issue raised by Tribal Defendants were moot under both the constitutional and prudential mootness doctrines discussed in Building and Construction Dept. v. Rockwell Int‘l Corp., 7 F.3d 1487 (10th Cir.1993). With respect to the sovereign immunity issue, the district court simply stated that Tribal Defendants’ continued assertion of the defense was inappropriate “gamesmanship” and that “[T]he jurisdiction of the Court did not interfere with the sovereignty of the Osage Tribe.”5 Individual Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants assert the reasoning of the district court with the additional con
A. Mootness
The constitutional mootness question is a threshold inquiry because a live case or controversy is a constitutional prerequisite to federal jurisdiction. In re Texas Int‘l Corp., 974 F.2d 1246, 1247 (10th Cir.1992). Our review of this question is de novo. Id.
Because the doctrine of prudential mootness is concerned with the court‘s discretion to exercise its power to provide relief, see Penthouse Int‘l Ltd. v. Meese, 939 F.2d 1011, 1019-20 (D.C.Cir.1991),7 however, we review the district court‘s determination of prudential mootness for an abuse of discretion.
Under the constitutional mootness doctrine, the suit must present a real and substantial controversy with respect to which specific relief may be fashioned. Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., 494 U.S. 472, 477, 110 S.Ct. 1249, 1253, 108 L.Ed.2d 400 (1990). Also, the controversy must remain alive at the trial and appellate stages of the litigation. Id. at 477-78, 110 S.Ct. at 1253-54.
We agree with Tribal Defendants that this case is not moot under the constitutional mootness doctrine. The district court‘s reasoning with respect to the issues raised in the pleadings of Individual Plaintiffs is understandable, but its reasoning inadequately addresses the sovereign immunity issue and overlooks Tribal Defendants’ interests in the state of affairs existing before the referendum. Since the beginning of the proceedings, Tribal Defendants repeatedly challenged federal jurisdiction based on tribal sovereign immunity and have a legally cognizable interest in seeking the vindication of that immunity on appeal. They also have a personal stake in challenging the extension of the franchise to Osages who own no headrights and the formation of a new general governing body under the referendum and 1994 Constitution. These issues represent live controversies. Thus, this case is not moot under the constitutional mootness doctrine. See Murphy v. Hunt, 455 U.S. 478, 481, 102 S.Ct. 1181, 1183, 71 L.Ed.2d 353 (1982) (per curiam).
Under the doctrine of prudential mootness, there are circumstances under which a controversy, not constitutionally moot, is so “attenuated that considerations of prudence and comity for coordinate branches of government counsel the court to stay its hand, and to withhold relief it has the power to grant.” See Building and Construction Dept., 7 F.3d at 1491-92 (internal quotations and citation omitted). Generally, this doctrine has been applied in cases involving requests for prospective equitable relief by declaratory judgment or injunction. Id. at 1492. A court may refuse to grant relief where it appears that a change in circumstances renders it highly unlikely that the actions in question will be repeated. Id.
At stake in this appeal are significant issues about the sovereign immunity of the Osage Tribe and the validity of the franchise extension and the 1994 Constitution and government. One such issue is the precedent set by the district court‘s disregard of the repeated assertion of that immunity and its subsequent declaration of the immunity issue
Lastly, Individual Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants argue that the case should be dismissed as moot because it would be inequitable to grant the requested relief under the rationale of In re Chateaugay Corp., 988 F.2d 322, 325-26 (2d Cir.1993), because Tribal Defendants did not seek mandamus or take an interlocutory appeal under
Although this argument presents a closer question, cf. Workman v. Jordan, 958 F.2d 332, 335 (10th Cir.1992) (holding an order postponing the consideration of qualified immunity defense until trial was immediately appealable as a collateral order), the case should not be dismissed as moot under the equity rationale of Chateaugay. Tribal Defendants asserted the sovereign immunity defense at every critical stage of the proceedings and sought to have the issue certified for interlocutory appeal. While it is arguable that Tribal Defendants could have sought an interlocutory appeal under
B. Standing
Federal Defendants and Individual Plaintiffs contend that Tribal Defendants lack standing to take an appeal from the district court proceedings because they were not aggrieved by the district court‘s final order. Individual Plaintiffs argue that the Osage mineral estate and the Osage Tribal Council‘s statutory mandate regarding the mineral estate were preserved by the 1994 Constitution.8
Standing is another threshold inquiry under the case or controversy prerequisite to federal jurisdiction. Bender v. Williamsport Area Sch. Dist., 475 U.S. 534, 541, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 1331, 89 L.Ed.2d 501 (1986). Because Tribal Defendants’ standing to appeal is being challenged, we review the question in the first instance. See Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 67-70, 117 S.Ct. 1055, 1067-70, 137 L.Ed.2d 170 (1997).
To have standing, a party must show an invasion of a legally protected interest that is actual or imminent, and concrete and particularized. Arizonans for Official English, 520 U.S. at 67, 117 S.Ct. at 1067. Likewise, a litigant must possess a direct stake in the outcome in order to seek appellate review. Id. at 67-68, 117 S.Ct. at 1067-68. The direct stake requirement ensures that the dispute presented to the court is “presented in an adversary context and in a form historically viewed as capable of judicial resolution.” Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 732, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1364, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972).
The 1906 Act conferred upon the Osage Tribal Council general governmental authority over the affairs of the Osage Tribe,
IV. District Court‘s Subject Matter Jurisdiction and Sovereign Immunity of Tribal Defendants
Shortly after this action was filed in district court, Tribal Defendants filed a motion to dismiss it for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, raising the defense of the Osage Tribe‘s sovereign immunity. Apparently, the district court thought it had the power to consider using one of two methods to address the issues it perceived, and that each method was governed by separate jurisdictional principles. The first method was to address the claims articulated by the pleadings and the motion to dismiss. The second, alternative method was to order a process to resolve its conception of the voting rights issue.10 Choosing the second and evading the sovereign immunity issue, the district court ruled that it had “sufficient jurisdiction pursuant to [Harjo v. Kleppe, 420 F.Supp. 1110 (D.D.C.1976), aff‘d sub nom. Harjo v. Andrus, 581 F.2d 949 (D.C.Cir.1978)], to mandate a referendum on the enfranchisement issue and to provide a forum for resolution of the voting conundrum.”11 After the referendum in 1994, the district court denied the motion to dismiss as moot, stating that its exercise of jurisdiction did not interfere with the sovereignty of the Osage Tribe.
We review de novo the legal question of when a party can assert sover
“Indian tribes are ‘domestic dependent nations’ that exercise inherent sovereign authority over their members and territories.” Oklahoma Tax Comm‘n v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, 498 U.S. 505, 509, 111 S.Ct. 905, 909, 112 L.Ed.2d 1112 (1991) (internal citation omitted). As an aspect of this sovereign immunity, suits against tribes are barred in the absence of an unequivocally expressed waiver by the tribe or abrogation by Congress. Id.; Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 58-59, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 1676-77, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978).
The Osage Tribe itself is not named as a defendant in this case. However, Individual Plaintiffs sued the Tribe‘s principal governing body Defendant Osage Tribal Council as well as each individual member, and Defendants Charles Tillman, Principal Chief and Geoffrey Standing Bear, Assistant Principal Chief in their official capacities.12 Because the relief requested by Individual Plaintiffs, concerning rights to vote in future tribal elections and hold tribal office, if granted, would run against the Tribe itself, the Tribe‘s sovereign immunity protects these defendants in their official capacities. See Kenai Oil and Gas, Inc. v. Department of the Interior, 522 F.Supp. 521, 531 (D.Utah 1981) (“Tribal immunity may not be evaded by suing tribal officers . . .“), aff‘d, 671 F.2d 383 (10th Cir.1982). This principle has been applied to protect state and federal officials sued in their official capacity. See, e.g., Hafer v. Melo, 502 U.S. 21, 112 S.Ct. 358, 116 L.Ed.2d 301 (1991) (state); Larson v. Domestic and Foreign Commerce Corp., 337 U.S. 682, 689-90, 69 S.Ct. 1457, 1461-62, 93 L.Ed. 1628 (1949) (federal). Because there is no reason to treat tribal immunity differently from state or federal immunity in this sense, tribal immunity protects tribal officials against claims in their official capacity. See Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130, 148, 102 S.Ct. 894, 907, 71 L.Ed.2d 21 (1982) (employing same rules for waiver of tribal immunity as are employed for waiver of state and federal immunity because no principled reason required different treatment). Thus, Tribal Defendants were entitled to sovereign immunity as far as the official capacity claims, unless there is an unequivocally expressed waiver either by the Tribe or abrogation by Congress.
Neither Individual Plaintiffs nor Federal Defendants contend that Congress has abrogated the Osage Tribe‘s sovereign immunity. However, Individual Plaintiffs, relying on Sierra Club v. Lujan, 972 F.2d 312, 314 (10th Cir.1992), seem to contend that Tribal Defendants should not be afforded the protection of sovereign immunity from suit because they participated in the referendum process and failed to take an interlocutory appeal. Similarly, Federal Defendants contend that Tribal Defendants should have sought interlocu
Notwithstanding their apparent waiver argument, Individual Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants do not point to an unequivocal waiver of sovereign immunity by Tribal Defendants. Tribal Defendants filed their motion to dismiss soon after the original complaint was filed. They reurged it in no less than 15 papers filed with the district court, at virtually every critical stage of the proceedings.13 The defense was mentioned or urged at each of the three status conferences held in the case. Moreover, at the district court‘s invitation, Tribal Defendants attempted to have the sovereign immunity issue certified for interlocutory appeal in early February, 1993.14 However, the district court never certified the issue. Lastly, Tribal Defendants state that they participated in the district court proceedings and the referendum only because participation was ordered by the district court.
While Sierra Club, relied upon by Individual Plaintiffs, represents an example of an instance where we exercised our discretion under
The district court ruled its jurisdiction to order a referendum for the resolution of the voting rights issue flowed from Harjo v. Kleppe, 420 F.Supp. 1110 (D.D.C.1976), aff‘d sub nom. Harjo v. Andrus, 581 F.2d 949 (D.C.Cir.1978). In Harjo, citizens of the Creek Nation brought suit against various federal officials and the principal chief of their tribe, alleging that the chief had been spending tribal monies without the approval of a Creek national council as required by the Creek Constitution of 1867. However, the national council had not met in over 60 years. Ruling that the Creek Nation retained the right to determine its own form of government under various treaties with the United States, the district court ordered a referendum process which allowed the people of the Creek Nation to determine whether they would revive the government and national council under the Creek Constitution of 1867 or whether they would adopt a new constitution. Ultimately, the Creeks adopted a new constitution and government.
Whatever its merits, Harjo is inapposite to this case. Although the principal chief of the Creek Nation was sued in his official capacity, Harjo, 420 F.Supp. at 1115, the opinions of the district court and the District of Columbia Circuit do not indicate that the chief asserted a sovereign immunity defense on behalf of the tribe.16 Moreover, Harjo did not involve a federal statute which imposed limits on the ability of the Creek Nation to determine its form of government as the 1906 Act does in this case.
Lastly, the district court‘s statement that its exercise of jurisdiction in mandating the referendum process did not interfere with the sovereignty of the Osage Tribe pays scant attention to the implications of its handling of the proceedings. Tribal sovereign immunity is immunity from suit in federal court. Bank of Oklahoma v. Muscogee (Creek) Nation, 972 F.2d 1166, 1169 (10th Cir.1992). A conception of immunity from suit which leaves a tribe nonetheless vulnerable to a court‘s own program of alternative dispute resolution accords no meaningful immunity. It follows that there were not two sets of jurisdictional principles from which the district court could select an option allowing it to proceed with ordering and overseeing a referendum process to rework the governing structure of the Osage Tribe.
In summary, Tribal Defendants properly and adequately challenged federal jurisdiction on the ground of tribal sovereign immunity. Tribal Defendants did not unequivocally waive the Tribe‘s immunity by failing to seek interlocutory review under
V. Validity of Referendum and 1994 Constitution17
In its final order filed September 8, 1995, the district court ruled that the refer
In contrast, Tribal Defendants emphasize that Congress can limit a tribe‘s power of self-government. They argue that Congress, in the 1906 Act, defined the Tribe‘s membership and set its form of general government, and that the referendum and 1994 Constitution are invalid in light of the 1906 Act.
The determination of whether Congress has limited the power of the Osage Tribe to determine its own form of government involves primarily the interpretation of the 1906 Act, its amendments, and subsequent case law. As this interpretation is a question of law, we review the district court‘s ruling on the validity of the referendum and the 1994 Constitution de novo. See Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S. 552, 558, 108 S.Ct. 2541, 2546, 101 L.Ed.2d 490 (1988). Although the district court held no evidentiary hearings in its proceedings, the parties did stipulate to certain facts. We review any questions of fact underlying the district court‘s ruling for clear error. Id.
Indian tribes are separate sovereigns with the power to regulate their inter
The clear intent doctrine has been applied in the context of congressional abrogation of a tribe‘s treaty rights. In Dion, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the language of a federal statute in light of its legislative history to conclude that Congress had the clear intent to abrogate the treaty rights of the Yankton Sioux Tribe to hunt eagles even though the intent was not expressed. The doctrine also applies in the context of reservation disestablishment. See Mattz v. Arnett, 412 U.S. 481, 505, 93 S.Ct. 2245, 2258, 37 L.Ed.2d 92 (1973). Moreover, the Eighth Circuit has held that Congress terminated the presumed power of Indian tribes to hear citizen suits brought under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 in the more purely internal context of a suit brought by two tribal members against their tribe and various federal defendants under a citizen-suit provision of RCRA arising out of polluted dump sites on the reservation. See Blue Legs v. United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, 867 F.2d 1094, 1097-98 (8th Cir.1989). The Blue Legs court based its holding on RCRA‘s exclusive federal jurisdiction provision and its legislative history, which expressed a congressional preference for prompt federal adjudication of citizen suits under RCRA, and held that RCRA terminated tribal power to hear such suits even though it did not do so expressly. Id.18
First, Congress has prescribed the form of tribal government for the Osage Tribe. The 1906 Act as amended established the offices of a principal chief, an assistant principal chief, and an eight-member Osage tribal council, and required that elections be held every four years to fill those offices. See Act of June 28, 1906, Pub.L. No. 321, 34 Stat. 539, 545, § 9; Act of March 2, 1929, Pub.L. No. 919, 45 Stat. 1478, 1481, § 7. A subsequent statute extended the operation of the government until a further act of Congress. See Act of October 21, 1978, Pub.L. No. 95-496, 92 Stat. 1660.
In Logan v. Andrus, 640 F.2d 269, 270-71 (10th Cir.1981), we rejected the proposition that the Osage Tribal Council as established under the 1906 Act was limited in its governing powers to the administration of the mineral estate. We held that the 1906 Act conferred upon the Osage Tribal Council general governmental authority over the affairs of the Osage Tribe, including the right to include the Tribe as a participant in federal programs. Id. at 270. In Logan, we explained that Congress’ description of the government established by the 1906 Act as the “tribal government”19 is significant and resolves the question of its general authority.20
The legislative history of the 1906 Act makes it clear that the act was passed with the approval of the Tribe and in its interests. See H.R.Rep. No. 3219, at 102 (1906). The House Report expressly notes that the 1906 Act made “ample provision for the . . . tribal government.” Id. at 2. Not only did Congress ordain the structure of the tribal government, it also set the terms of office and provided for the time and place of general tribal elections, the succession of officers, and the removal of members of the Tribal Council. In spite of its knowledge of the problems with the statutory government,21 Congress extended its operation indefinitely in 1978. The legislative history of this 1978 amendment shows that Congress was aware that it was dealing with the “tribal government,” see S.Rep. No. 95-1157, at 5 (1978), and the amendment reinforces the conclusion that Congress was aware of its prescription of the form of tribal government by not only extending its operation indefinitely but also by providing for a method of selecting a principal chief and a tribal council in the event of a common disaster, see id. at 9; Act of October 21, 1978, Pub.L. No. 95-496, 92 Stat. 1660, § 1. Until the referendum, the United States government recognized Defendant Osage Tribal Council as the general governing body of the Osage Tribe.22 Moreover, the Council has operated under the 1906 Act since its passage--not the 1881 Constitution.23
The referendum process ordered by the district court produced the 1994 Constitution, which creates a new general government for the Osage Tribe. The 1994 Constitution separates the powers of the Osage Nation into the legislative, executive, and judicial divisions and confers those powers on a national council, a president and vice-president, and a supreme court, respectively. Although the 1994 Constitution makes some provisions to preserve the power of the government established by the 1906 Act over the Osage mineral estate, the government created by the 1994 Constitution is a government wielding general authority, designed, according to the constitutional preamble, to secure to the Osage Nation the blessings of freedom and the Osage ancestral heritage and culture. This establishment of an entirely new form of tribal government exercising general powers is inconsistent with Congress’ statutory prescription of the form of tribal government for the Osage Tribe. We hold that Congress clearly intended to terminate the power of the Osage Tribe to create a new form of tribal government inconsistent with the statutory form, see Felix S. Cohen‘s Handbook of Federal Indian Law 247 (Rennard Strickland, ed. 1982) (recognizing the 1906 Act as an “effective limitation on self-governing powers“), as the Tribe did in the 1994 Constitution. Because Congress’ prescription of a form of tribal government and the restriction of a tribe‘s powers over internal affairs in this way appears unique in its relations with Indian tribes, see id. at 247 & n. 11,24 our holding in this matter is correspondingly narrow.
Second, the district court ordered the expansion of the Osage franchise to persons who were not entitled to vote under regulations promulgated by the Department of the Interior,25 and the 1994 Constitution approved this expansion. The district court declared that “all persons listed on the 1906 roll and their descendants by blood (but without regard to Indian blood quantum) will be eligible for membership in the Tribe and will be permitted to vote in the referendum.”26 The district court‘s final order of dismissal confirms that the franchise was expanded to all registered lineal descendants of persons whose names appear on the 1908 roll, without regard to headright ownership, and the certificate of ratification of the 1994 Constitution echoes this expansion.
The franchise extension as created in this case is invalid. The district court‘s orders expanding the franchise in the first instance are invalid because they were issued without subject matter jurisdiction. Moreover, because the form of tribal government created by the 1994 Constitution, its major provision, is inconsistent with the form of government prescribed for the Osage Tribe in the 1906 Act, the 1994 Constitution is invalid. Accordingly, the 1994 Constitution‘s ratification of the franchise extension is void. Because we decide this issue on grounds independent of the 1906 Act, we need not decide the issue of whether the 1906 Act terminates the Osage Tribe‘s power to extend the right to vote in its elections to persons not owning headrights.27
In summary, Congress terminated the power of the Osage Tribe to create a form of
VI. Remedy
Contending that the 1906 Act is not an idle choice of words and that only Congress can expand the franchise tied to headright ownership and replace the tribal government, Tribal Defendants maintain, as we confirmed at oral argument, that the right to vote in tribal elections should be returned to headright owners only and that the government prescribed by the 1906 Act should be restored as the sole government of the Osage Tribe. Tribal Defendants also contend that this remedy is necessary to vindicate the sovereign immunity of the Osage Tribe. In short, Tribal Defendants argue that we should provide a remedy which would put the parties back in the position in which they would have been had the district court properly dismissed the case on grounds of sovereign immunity at the outset of the action and had no referendum been held.
Individual Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants contend that we have no authority to grant the remedy sought by Tribal Defendants. They contend that the Osage Nation has a legal existence independent of the district court proceedings such that a reversal of the district court would not result in the restoration of the government established by the 1906 Act as the sole government. Ironically, they contend that the Osage Nation enjoys sovereign immunity, which precludes us from providing the remedy sought by Tribal Defendants. They also rely on the traditional reluctance of federal courts to interfere in the results of tribal elections or involve themselves in internal tribal disputes. Lastly, at oral argument, they suggested that the decision to recognize officially an Indian tribe is a task exclusively committed to the executive branch and that we should leave the task to that branch.
A. District Court‘s Relationship to Referendum
In light of the contention by Individual Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants that the 1994 Constitution and its government assume a legal significance independent of the district court‘s actions by way of the referendum process, the breadth of the remedy requested by Tribal Defendants, and the principle that we are particularly concerned with judicial error, any remedy we fashion in this case should be justified by a close relationship between the actions of the district court and the referendum and 1994 Constitution. We turn to examine that relationship.
The district court‘s actions are inseparable from the referendum and 1994 Constitution. The district court did not merely initiate a process which was then carried out by the parties. Departing from the task of deciding the issues in the pleadings,29 the district court ruled that it had “sufficient jurisdiction” to “mandate a referendum on the enfranchisement issue and provide a forum for resolution of the voting conundrum.” It ordered the creation of a commission to propose a revision of the existing documents governing the Osage Tribe, and required the commission to submit all its proposals to the court for its review. The district court retained continuing jurisdiction over the work of the commission and the referendum process.
Additionally, the district court played an integral and commanding role in the referendum process. The district court issued a comprehensive order governing the commission and the referendum process, requiring an educational program on the referendum, and mandating election of new Osage officials. It directed or attempted to direct the parties past numerous points of potential conflict, not only on the methods for conducting the referendum but also on issues relating to the composition of the commission, whether commission meetings would be open to the public, the exchange of information between commissioners, deadlines, expansion of the franchise and preparation of a master tribal membership and voting list, an educational program about the referendum, referendum funding, and commissioner compensation. It also required the Secretary of the Interior to submit his views on whether the new proposed governing documents contravened federal law.
Lastly, the district court actively avoided the issue of sovereign immunity. Although Tribal Defendants raised the issue shortly after the commencement of the action in their motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the district court evaded the motion for several years3031 and ulti
Is this an issue that is going to be urged seriously . . . ? The Court had felt that we were on course for working out a plan, of having the parties with the aid of the Court agree to a process or plan for resolving this voting issue. I‘m hearing the argument from [one Tribal Defendant] that really they want the judicial system to address some of the legal issues in a manner that could cause an appeal before the plan had been worked through, and this is kind of a new tact [sic] that could possibly throw a wrench into the process.32
The district court made no bones about the fact that it did not intend to let the sovereign immunity issue stop the referendum.
The district court‘s actions are inseparable from the referendum and 1994 Constitution. The district court‘s actions were possible only because it disregarded the sovereign immunity defense. Not only is the existence of the referendum not independent of the district court‘s actions, but its validity is seriously undermined by the disregard of the sovereign immunity defense. Moreover, any purported independent validity of the referendum and the 1994 Constitution is undermined by the departures from the statutory prescription of the form of tribal government for the Osage Tribe.
B. Appropriateness and Form of Relief
Congress prescribed the form of government in the 1906 Act as amended, thereby restricting the Tribe‘s power to create a form of government inconsistent with the statutory form. The principle that only Congress has the power to amend an otherwise proper federal statute is well settled. For example, in Kennerly v. District Court of the Ninth Judicial District of Montana, 400 U.S. 423, 425-26, 91 S.Ct. 480, 481-82, 27 L.Ed.2d 507 (1971) (per curiam), the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a state‘s claim that it had jurisdiction over a civil case arising on the Blackfeet reservation because the state legislature had not taken affirmative legislative action to extend such jurisdiction in accordance with a federal statute. In light of the statute, the Supreme Court rejected the proposition that the Blackfeet Tribal Council‘s specific authorization of coordinate state court jurisdiction in such cases was sufficient. Id. at 427, 429, 91 S.Ct. at 482, 483. Kennerly, thus, confirms that action by a recognized tribal authority cannot overcome a statutory requirement, even where protection of a tribal interest underlies the statute.
As an appellate court, we have the power to provide an appropriate and meaningful remedy to correct judicial error of a district court. In this case, the district court had far more than a causal relationship to the referendum process. The district court ignored numerous requests for a ruling on the sovereign immunity issue, proceeded without jurisdiction, assumed powers which can only be described as legislative in scope, and commanded a constitutional referendum--a remedy far in excess of that requested by the pleadings--despite a congressional act and precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court and this circuit to the contrary. In this case, the appropriate and meaningful remedy is to restore the form of government established by the 1906 Act by striking down the inconsistent form created by the 1994 Constitution and to declare the extension of the franchise void.
The District of Columbia Circuit granted a similar remedy in Morris v. Watt, 640 F.2d 404 (D.C.Cir.1981), where the court vacated the results of tribal referendum elections adopting new constitutions for the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations on grounds of proce
Both Individual Plaintiffs and the new Osage National Council, in its amicus brief, assert that the Osage National Council possesses sovereign immunity which precludes us from granting the relief requested by Tribal Defendants. However, the immunity of the Osage Tribe was properly asserted by Tribal Defendants at the outset of this suit, and granting the relief requested by Tribal Defendants vindicates that immunity. Indian tribal sovereign immunity would be a poor shield if it could be disregarded at the will of a district court or if a court could command resolution of tribal affairs in such a way as to put the vindication of immunity beyond the fashioning of a remedy at the appellate level. The Osage National Council cannot assert that immunity to bar relief.34
Federal Defendants point to Two Hawk v. Rosebud Sioux Tribe, 534 F.2d 101 (8th Cir.1976), and Wheeler v. Swimmer, 835 F.2d 259 (10th Cir.1987), as examples of the reluctance of federal courts to interfere with the results of tribal elections or involve themselves in internal tribal disputes. However, both cases are distinguishable.
In Two Hawk, the Eighth Circuit dismissed an appeal regarding a challenge to a tribal election as moot where the appellant failed to seek a stay of the election, which was completed during the appeal. The Two Hawk court carefully noted that the case did
In Wheeler, we affirmed the district court‘s refusal to exercise jurisdiction over the claims of defeated candidates in a tribal election, where resort to the tribal judicial system was available, under the rationale of Santa Clara. In this case, we are following the animating principle of Wheeler and Santa Clara by providing Tribal Defendants their requested relief.
Individual Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants contend that the decision to recognize officially an Indian tribe is exclusively committed to the executive branch and that we should leave the task to that branch. Many administrative functions concerning Indian affairs have been delegated to the executive branch by way of the Department of the Interior, e.g.,
In summary, the appropriate and meaningful remedy in this case is to resurrect the restriction of the franchise to headright owners and to restore the government established by the 1906 Act, by striking down the inconsistent form created by the 1994 Consti
VIII. Conclusion
Congress prescribed the form of tribal government for the Osage Tribe in the 1906 Act as amended, thereby restricting the Tribe‘s power to create an inconsistent form of government. Also, the extension of the franchise in this case is void. The district court erred in failing to timely rule on Tribal Defendants’ motion to dismiss on the ground of sovereign immunity. The district court further erred in ordering and presiding over the extension of the tribal franchise and the referendum process, working a fundamental change in the form of the Tribe‘s government. Outside the power of judicial review or circumstances requiring court-supervised implementation of a constitutionally-required remedy superseding any contrary statute, e.g., Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 78 S.Ct. 1401, 3 L.Ed.2d 5 (1958) (striking down suspension of school desegregation plan under Brown), a district court cannot provide what amounts to a legislative forum for resolution of issues fit solely for Congress simply because Congress and the federal bureaucracy have proven too slow, unresponsive, or otherwise unsatisfactory. Only Congress has the power to permit a fundamental alteration of the prescribed form of tribal government. The results of the district court proceedings and the 1994 referendum are reversed. The right to vote in elections of the Osage Tribe is restricted to headright owners, and the form of government established by the 1994 Constitution is declared invalid.