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TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal (JAT) granted the Tribal Council a permanent injunction Monday, blocking a scheduled special election on the Council's pay increase. Principal Chief Chad Smith had previously called for the election after the Cherokee Nation Election Commission certified a referendum petition.

The court found that Smith had called the election "in the proper exercise of his Constitutional duty..." and that the Council members had brought the case "individually and in their official capacities...".

The cased turned on the fact that the justices thought the referendum petition "is insufficient on its face to inform a person signing of the matter to be voted on." The descriptive language of the referendum mentioned "Cherokee Nation Legislative Act 28-99", but did not give a title or description of the Act.

Chief Justice Darrell Dowty wrote the unanimous decision of the court, stating:

"At a minimum, the petition should have contained the title of the act. Without this information on the face of the Petition, the person signing is left to word-of-mouth or other potentially unreliable source(s) for information on the substance of the act subject to referendum. With the required content on the face of the petition form, the person signing is presumed to understand the subject of the referendum and extrinsic evidence is unnecessary. In these cases, this Court FINDS that the Referendum Petition herein does not contain on its face the minimum information necessary to inform the electorate of the substance of the Act they are seeking to repeal."

The Justices went on to point out that the petitioners did not have guidance in the format of presenting a referendum petition because the Council had never passed a law doing so.

"In this case, we find ourselves having to reject an attempt at the exercise of the power of the referendum because of a deficiency on the face of the petition. We do so with great reluctance. The Petitioners sought to exercise this power without the guidance mandated by the Constitution to be provided by the Council, resulting, at least in part, in the Council benefiting directly from their own inaction."

The Justices reviewed evidence of "irregularities in the circulation of the petition", and found there may have been evidence to support the allegation.

Before granting the motion for permanent injunction, which prevents the special election, the Justices wrote:

"...we are convinced that many honest citizens tried honorably to exercise the right of referendum and have been thwarted by this unfortunate process. It is our sincere hope that this litigation does not discourage the citizens of the Nation in the exercise of the Initiative and Referendum and we encourage the branches of this government to protect, defend and give priority to the rights reserved to the people by our Constitution."

The JAT opinion was signed by Chief Justice Darrell Dowty and Justice Darell R. Matlock.