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The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) has dropped its suit challenging the 1996 BIA decision, also upheld by a federal court, that allowed the Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma (DTO) to split from the CNO. The decision gave the DTO the power to deal with the U.S. Government as a legally recognized sovereign nation. The battle for independence from the CNO took the Delawares 17 years prior to the BIA ruling.

Julian Fite, acting general counsel for the CNO said, "Both of the tribes have spent fortunes on lawyers and, of course, accomplished nothing." CNO Principal Chief, Chad Smith, appeared in the U.S. District Court in Tulsa, OK to finalize the dismissal of the case challenging the 1996 decision.

Fite said, that the tribes will negotiate any unresolved issues by appointing three delegates from each tribe with a seventh delegate to be chosen by mutual agreement.