Tribal law judges reunite Montana tribe

December 20, 2011

Montana: A leadership crisis within the Montana Little Shell Tribe caused factions to call upon an expert tribal law panel. Three judges were selected from around the country to create the panel.

The dissenting group, the Little Shell Alliance, was formed after refusing to recognizing the 2009 re-election of the Sinclair Executive Board to the council. The Alliance then held it's own elections, resulting in an estranged government. The state requires tribes to have a unified government to receive stimulus money, therefore the tribe missed out on much needed stimulus money.

The panel made a series of decisions in favor of the Little Shell Alliance:

1. Declared the 2008 election of John Sinclair invalid and unconstitutional according to the tribal constitution.

"As a result of the failure of the Sinclair Executive Board and Council to conduct said election without good cause the Tribe was left with no lawful Executive Board and Council as of January 1, 2009"

2. Ruled the disqualification and disenrollment of Little Shell Tribal members unconstitutional.

"The persons disenrolled were disenrolled in violation of their substantive and procedural due process rights"

3. Ruled the separate election held by the Little Shell Alliance in March 2010 in accordance to the constitution, declaring John Gilbert of Great Falls the rightful president of the tribe.

"authorizing the people to exercise the power to resolve a crisis in political leadership in the manner they did after conferring with Tribal elders."

The expert panel was made up of:

• Ernest St. Germaine, who serves as a reserve judge in the Wisconsin Tribal Judges Association
• Abby Abinanti, who serves as the chief judge for the Yurok Tribe of California
• B.J. Jones, who serves as the director of the Tribal Judicial Institute at the University of North Dakota and also as a judge with the Turtle Mountain Chippewa