Content about Osage Nation Supreme Court

The Third Osage Nation Congress adjourned the 2013 Hun-Kah Session on its 24th and final day of session April 22 after fast tracking and voting on several pieces of legislation.

The three-day session extension approved by majority Congressional vote last week will not be used. The remaining legislative bills and resolutions passed by Congress were sent to Principal Chief John Red Eagle’s office for his consideration.

The Third Osage Nation Congress is asking the Osage Nation Supreme Court to declare Principal Chief John Red Eagle’s appointment of his brother Eddy Red Eagle Jr. to the Osage Nation Energy Services LLC Board unconstitutional, according to tribal court documents.

Osages in New Mexico, California, Oklahoma and Pawhuska say they haven’t received their absentee ballots yet. The absentee ballot request deadline was May 15.

The Election Board asked Osage voters to allow five to seven business days to receive absentee ballots because Maryland-based TrueBallot Inc., the election company who conducted the 2010 Osage Election, is mailing the ballots. The five to seven days have passed and now Election Day is only four days away.

Osage Nation Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Lohah has selected five ON Congress members to serve on a Select Committee of Inquiry to investigate allegations of whether Treasurer William Kemble should be removed from his post.

In a letter received by the Congressional office Jan. 13, Lohah announces his appointments but stated he had reservations in doing so due to the separation of powers provisions in the Osage Constitution.

The debate between the Second Osage Nation Congress and the Executive Branch over Treasurer William Kemble’s subpoenaed emails is heading for the courtroom.

A Congressional subpoena demanding emails from Kemble’s work computer concerning any aspect of his job since February is being challenged by the Executive Branch. Court papers from both government branches have been filed to either contest or defend the subpoena. Now both sides must wait for the Nation’s Trial Court to hear the case.

The Osage Nation Supreme Court met for the first time in the history of the nation Wednesday to hear arguments over a free press for the Osage people.

The Nation’s high court is deciding the constitutionality of a 2008 bill that was challenged by Principal Chief Jim Gray. He vetoed the 2008 Independent Press Act but Congress overturned Gray’s veto. The chief asked the Nation’s district court to intervene, and it upheld the chief’s position. Speaker Archie Mason, acting on behalf of Congress, appealed the case to the Supreme Court earlier this year.