Opinion ID: 513966
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Potential for Biased Tribunals

Text: 27 There is yet another troubling aspect of the opinion: its failure to address or even consider the possibility that it may be subjecting Duro to adjudication by a biased tribunal. Judge Sneed, in dissent, gave the subject thoughtful attention. 851 F.2d at 1151-52 (Sneed, J., dissenting). The Greywater panel thought the matter significant enough to merit discussion: 28 As a final note, we believe our decision is supported by the fact that, based upon the record, there are significant racial, cultural, and legal differences between the Devils Lake Sioux Tribe and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. These nonmember Indian Petitioners thus face the same fear of discrimination faced by the non-Indian petitioners in Oliphant: they would be judged by a court system that precludes their participation, according to the law of a societal state that has been made for others and not for them. 29 Greywater, 846 F.2d at 493. The Duro majority ignores the subject. 30 Indian tribes differ in material respects from political entities to which we are accustomed. They have broad authority to determine the qualifications for membership, which often are based on degree of tribal blood. Cohen, supra note 5, at 20-23. To be eligible for membership in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, a person must not be a member of another tribe. Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community Const. art. II, Sec. 1; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community Code Sec. 2-1(a) (Supp. No. 2). As noted, Duro is thus ineligible for membership in the community which will decide his fate. The exclusion of otherwise eligible individuals who belong to another tribe underscores the possibility that those who do not qualify for tribal membership may be treated in an unfair or discriminatory fashion. Indeed, the possibility that there may be hostility or mistrust between Indian tribes is not a far-fetched concern. As reported in testimony given recently before the Civil Rights Commission, at least one such situation currently exists, giving rise to what many perceive as miscarriages of justice: 31 I am here to address you concerning what I believe are serious violations under the Indian Civil Rights Act of individual Indian people subject to jurisdiction in a variety of situations, but most specifically in the situation where we now have some 15,000 Navajo people who have been placed under the jurisdiction of the Hopi Tribal Court because of [a] land dispute.... 32 It is my personal experience representing people in that tribal court that the relocation situation, the dispute as it exists between the two tribes, makes it impossible for Navajo people who are facing criminal charges as a result of that dispute to be tried fairly in that tribal court.... It is my personal experience that these individuals have experienced a violation of their ... right to trial by impartial jury.... 33 .... 34 I have experienced two recent situations where Indian people, Navajo people, have been charged by the Hopi Tribe and brought into Hopi Tribal Court. We have made motions to dismiss based on the lack of jurisdiction, and we more importantly have raised the question of an impartial jury. Neither of my clients speaks Hopi; neither of my clients are from the Hopi Tribe; neither are allowed to participate in the Hopi Tribe. 35 .... 36 ... Hopi tribal members who sit on those juries--given the history of the land dispute, there is no way that they can leave that corridor of the courtroom and render a fair and impartial decision when sitting in front of them are people charged with crimes, including resisting that very Hopi Tribe's effort to remove them from their ancestral land.... [We] have people in those courtrooms who have stopped Hopi development projects because the Navajo believe it violates their religious freedom from having burial sites disturbed. They take that right into Hopi Tribal Court and have experienced an absolute vacuum in terms of a forum where they can have those rights impartially reviewed.... 37 Enforcement of the Indian Civil Rights Act: Hearing Before the United States Commission on Civil Rights (Aug. 13-14, 1987) at 219-20 (testimony of Lee Brook Phillips, attorney). 38 This case raises more than a theoretical legal question about which court has jurisdiction; it concerns criminal charges against an individual, Albert Duro. It also concerns other individuals who are or will be in Duro's situation, facing criminal charges in a court made up entirely of people belonging to another tribe, possibly a hostile one. In Judge Sneed's words, the panel's decision will be consigning such individuals to a tribunal that, on its face, suggests the possibility of prejudice against [them]. 851 F.2d at 1151 (Sneed, J., dissenting). III 39 Despite warnings from Judge Sneed's powerful and persuasive dissent, despite the unanimous decision of another circuit, the court today stands by a panel opinion that simply does not do justice to the sensitive and important issues presented to us. I respectfully dissent.