Opinion ID: 211910
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Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: The Kaw Nation is a federally-recognized Indian tribe, organized pursuant to the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, ch. 831, 49 Stat. 1967, codified in 25 U.S.C. § 501 et seq., and operating under a constitution adopted by the Nation and approved by Interior on August 4, 1990. The present controversy is basically an intratribal dispute between two factions of the Kaw Nation—the EC4 Group, and the opposing faction, the Munroe Group. The controversy has resulted in litigation before the Board (which is the subject of the present appeal); in the Kaw Nation tribal courts; the Oklahoma state 04-1029 2 courts; the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma; the Tenth Circuit; and before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (“IBIA”).1 Under its constitution, the Tribe has two legislative bodies: a seven-member Executive Council and a General Council composed of all adult tribal members. The Executive Council is empowered to act by majority vote. The constitution also provides for a judicial branch, composed of a Supreme Court consisting of three judges and such inferior courts as may be established by tribal law. The constitution provides that judges of the Kaw Supreme Court and judges of the inferior courts are selected by the Executive Council and confirmed by the General Council. At the time the Tribe’s constitution was approved, the Kaw Nation did not have an operating court system, and judicial power was then vested in the Interior Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”) Court of Indian Offenses. The Kaw Nation’s court system was established in 1991. Funding for the tribal courts has been provided by the Federal Government by agreement with the Tribe pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 450-450n (“ISDA”). This agreement is enforceable against the government if the required payments are not made. See generally Cherokee Nation of Okla. v. Leavitt, 125 S. Ct. 1172 (2005). Among the monies to be paid to the tribe in 2003 under the agreement were funds in 1 See, e.g., In re Removal of Clyde F. McCauley, No. CIV-02-12, (Kaw Tribal District Court, March 12, 2003); In re Removal of Clark Pepper, No. CIV-02-13, Kaw Tribal District Court, March 12, 2003; Michael Minnis & Assocs., P.C. v. Kaw Nation, 90 P.3d 1009 (Okla. Ct. App. 2003); Kaw Nation, ex rel. Clyde McCauley v. Lujan, 378 F.3d 1139 (10th Cir. 2004); Kaw Nation of Okla. v. Acting S. Plains Reg’l Dir., BIA, IBIA 03-94-A, IBIA 03-107-A, (IBIA June 18, 2003). 04-1029 3 the approximate amount of $7,617, which the tribe was to apply to the approximately $80,000 annual cost of operating the Kaw Nation Court system. Under the pertinent regulations, a Tribe that receives funding under a selfgovernance compact for a program that would otherwise be administered by the BIA may voluntarily retrocede the program upon submission of a written notice to the Office of Self Governance (“OSG”) that includes a “Tribal resolution or other official action of its governing body”. 25 C.F.R. Ch. VI, Subpart N—Retrocession, § 1000.333 (2004). The regulations further provide that retrocession will become effective on a date mutually agreed upon by the Tribe and the BIA, or as provided in the compact. 25 C.F.R. § 1000.334.2 The present controversy arose when, in the middle of 2002, proceedings were pending in the Tribal Courts to remove appellants, the EC4 group, from their positions on the Executive Council based on allegations of self-dealing. The EC4 Group, in turn, alleged defects in the process by which the judges were appointed. Based on these alleged defects, the EC4 Group, acting as a majority of the Executive Council, sought to return control of the Kaw Nation courts to the BIA and to release the funds destined for the operation of the Tribal Courts under the Self-Governance Compact. The EC4 Group claimed this action was authorized by the Tribe’s constitution and by the applicable federal regulations governing retrocession. At the November 16, 2002, 2 The Kaw Nation Compact of Self-Governance provides that the effective date of retrocession “shall be forty-five calendar days from the date of request by the Nation, unless the United States and the Nation mutually agree to an effective date more or less than forty five calendar days from the date of the request by the Nation. Then the mutually agreed upon date shall be the effective date of such retrocession.” (J.A. at 105.) 04-1029 4 meeting, the measure was approved by the EC4 Group, despite the objections of the remaining three members of the Executive Council, i.e., the Munroe Group. On December 12, 2002, the EC4 Group further formalized this action when, acting as a majority of the Executive Council, it passed a resolution to “explicitly turn[] the control of its courts back to the BIA and submit[] to the jurisdiction of the courts of the [BIA] and knowingly release[] the monies . . . under said compact.” Kaw Nation Executive Council Resolution No. 96A. The controversy continued when, on February 9, 2003, the Kaw General Council purported to cure one of the alleged defects in the selection of judges by approving those appointments that were in question. On February 28, 2003, based on the actions of the Executive Council, the OSG recognized the retrocession of the tribal court program, and informed the Executive Council that it was retaining a portion of the Kaw Nation’s 2003 funding for tribal courts and would use the funds to defray the costs of operating a court system for the Tribe. The OSG informed the tribe that as of five days from the date of the letter (March 5, 2003), the Nation could not expend federal funds for its tribal courts, and that any funds expended for that purpose would be deemed disallowed costs subject to required repayment. The letter also stated that the decision could be appealed to the IBCA, consistent with 25 C.F.R. § 1000.428, which entitles Tribes to appeal post-award administrative decisions to the IBCA. Under 25 C.F.R. § 900.230, which is incorporated by reference into 25 C.F.R. § 1000.429, “Indian tribes and tribal organizations shall continue performance of a contract during the appeal of any claims.” Despite the February 2003 OSG decision, the removal actions against the EC4 members nonetheless proceeded in the tribal courts. On March 10, 2003, the Kaw 04-1029 5 Nation district court issued separate decisions removing two of the four members of the EC4 Group from the Executive Council.3 Then, on March 17, 2003, the BIA advised the Executive Council Chairman that it had “re-assumed” jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters for the Kaw Nation, and that it would no longer recognize orders and decisions issued by the Kaw Nation courts. (J.A. at 69.) On April 8, 2003, the BIA further notified the Executive Council that it would not recognize any actions taken by the tribal court after February 28, “the date the [OSG] accepted the retrocession of the Tribal Court under Kaw Executive Council Resolution No. 96A.” (J.A. at 71.) On April 29, 2003, the BIA published a final Federal Register notice, 68 Fed. Reg. 22728 stating that “[t]he Kaw Nation’s retrocession and closing of its tribal court creates a jurisdictional vacuum” and that the BIA “must immediately reassume juridical jurisdiction . . . until such time as the Nation reestablishes its court.”4 The Munroe Group filed an appeal of the February 28, 2003, decision with the IBCA on March 26, 2003, alleging that the government, in accepting the retrocession of the tribal courts, had breached the self-determination agreement with the Tribe, and had improperly withheld approximately ten percent of the $80,000 annual cost of operating the Kaw Nation court system. On May 7, 2003, the Munroe Group petitioned the Board for a Stay of the Retrocession action. The Munroe Group claimed, inter alia, that the 3 Removal actions were also proceeding against the other two members of the EC4 Group. They were removed by order of the tribal court in November of 2003. 4 There was initially some confusion in the proceedings below as to whether the Tribe’s action was a voluntary retrocession of a federally-funded program, governed under 25 C.F.R. Part 1000; or required emergency reassumption of judicial jurisdiction, governed under 25 C.F.R. § 11.100(c); or was subject to both regulatory regimes. The government later clarified in its filings before the IBCA that Interior’s action involved a voluntary retrocession and not an emergency reassumption. 04-1029 6 BIA violated various procedural regulations in making the retrocession effective and also violated the terms of the tribal constitution and of the funding agreement. Before the IBCA, Interior moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing, inter alia, that the IBCA lacked jurisdiction to order a stay of a voluntary retrocession of a self-governance program by the tribal government; that the Munroe Group lacked standing to pursue the appeal; and that the IBCA lacked jurisdiction to review Interior’s determination regarding the recognition of tribal officials. In June 2003, the Board nonetheless issued the requested stay which had the effect of requiring Interior to pay the withheld funds to the tribe. This payment was subsequently made. The IBCA found that the Munroe Group had standing to maintain the appeal because Chairman Munroe “not only headed the Executive Council but . . . was the Chief Executive Officer of the Nation [and] was expressly authorized by the General Council to challenge the Department’s action accepting the purported ‘retrocession’ . . . [and] was also sustained by the General Council when he sought the removal of two of the EC4 Group and then replaced them with new Executive Council members who agreed with him that the Nation’s judicial functions should not be retroceded to BIA.” IBCA Decision, slip op. at 15. The EC4 Group participated in the IBCA proceeding through the filing of a Notice of Special Appearance to advise the Board that the Kaw Nation had not authorized the appeal and subsequently submitted briefs objecting to the Munroe Group’s petition to stay the retrocession, and in support of the government’s motion for reconsideration of the Board’s order granting the stay. On July 30, 2003, the EC4 group filed a request with the IBCA, seeking to be recognized as a party to the action. 04-1029 7 On July 31, 2003, the IBCA, exercising jurisdiction under the Contract Disputes Act, as made applicable to disputes arising under the ISDA pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 450m-1(d), denied the EC4 Group’s motion to be recognized as a party and granted the Munroe Group’s motion for summary judgment “nullifying [Interior’s] February 28, 2003, letter and its consequences,” and holding that “[t]he Kaw Nation is entitled to retain its judicial functions.” IBCA Decision, slip op. at 16. The grounds for the decision were three-fold. First, the Board held that the OSG decision of February 28, 2003, “violate[d] the Compact provisions and the regulations at 25 CFR 1000.334 and 1000.336, [sic] requiring negotiation with the Chairman, as the designated official under the Compact, concerning the effective date of the retrocession and the amount of funds, if any, to be returned to the Government.” Id. at 9.5 Second, the Board concluded that the “judiciary was not a ‘program’ [within the retrocession regulations] as such [but a] governmental function,” which could not be retroceded. Id. at 13-14. Third, the Board held that the OSG “violated principles of Federal Indian law under which an Indian tribe has the right to interpret its own governing documents in resolving internal disputes” and that the OSG knew the validity of the retrocession “was openly disputed and was the subject of ongoing proceedings within the Kaw Nation.” Id. at 9. The Kaw Nation General Council had “clearly expressed its disapproval of the attempts to retrocede the judicial branch . . . and the Kaw Nation courts were in the process of rendering a 5 Under the regulations governing retrocession, the effective date of the retrocession and the amount of funds, if any, to be returned to the government, required negotiation with the Tribe, 25 C.F.R. §§ 1000.334 and 1000.336. 04-1029 8 decision.” Id. at 10. However, the Board did not explain why its own exercise of jurisdiction did not raise similar problems concerning interference in intratribal disputes. The EC4 Group filed an appeal of the IBCA decision with this court in October 2003, challenging, among other things, the Board’s denial of its request to be recognized as a party. We granted the Munroe Group’s motion for leave to intervene in November 2003. Interior initially filed a separate appeal of the IBCA decision, which was then consolidated with the EC4 Group appeal. However, on August 4, 2004, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs formally rescinded the government’s February 2003 acceptance of the retrocession of funding and stated that the government no longer wished to pursue its claim to the withheld funds. The letter also “rescinded” the letters stating the position that the actions undertaken by the Kaw nation courts were invalid; and acknowledged that the Kaw Nation possessed a functioning court system.6 The parties confirmed at oral argument that the funds which were the subject of the original dispute before the IBCA have been released and that Interior does not seek recovery of those funds.