Opinion ID: 742666
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: District Court's Relationship to Referendum

Text: 51 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. 52 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. 53 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. 54 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 30 the motion for several years 31 and ultimately denied it as moot in light of the results of the referendum it ordered. When one Tribal Defendant requested a ruling on the motion to dismiss at the status conference on October 9, 1992, well before the referendum, the district judge immediately turned to the attorney for Federal Defendants, who by this time had abandoned their initial position and embraced the referendum, and asked: 55 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 56 The district court made no bones about the fact that it did not intend to let the sovereign immunity issue stop the referendum. 57 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.