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Tribal Court Rules In Favor of Freedmen (Jan 14, 2011)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Cherokee Nation court has overturned an amendment to the tribal constitution that denied citizenship to the non-Indian descendants of tribal members' former black slaves.

Cherokee Nation District Court Judge John Cripps ruled Friday that an 1866 treaty between the tribe and the U.S. government provided that freedmen, as they're called, and their descendants were to be citizens of the Cherokee Nation, and therefore the amendment passed in March 2007 is "void as a matter of law."

The ruling comes in one of several cases filed in the dispute between the Cherokees and a group of freedmen.

In a statement, tribal Attorney General Diane Hammons says the tribe disagrees with the opinion and is considering its options.

A spokeswoman for a freedmen group says she is happy with the decision.



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