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The Bielecki Report
October 5, 2008
To
Mr. Floyd Hand, Sr.
P.O. Box 150
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE
PINE RIDGE, SOUTH DAKOTA
TRIBAL INHERENT POWERS
MEMORANDUM OPINION
CONCLUSION
Various
historians have determined that the "Sioux Nation Treaty Council"
formally formed in 1894, shortly after the Wounded Knee massacre.
The Sioux Nation Treaty Council represents all of the Sioux Tribes (Approx. 49
Tribes), and all other Sioux Treaty Councils would be subordinate to it,
regardless of the Treaty Council's name.
********************
Q1:
Why did the issue of Inherent Powers come up in 2008, and why is this still
relevant today?
In 2008 the issue of Inherent Powers came up when
there was a leadership crisis within the Black Hills Sioux Nation Council
(BHSNC), which was established by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council (OST)
The former leader was getting too old and various
younger men wanted the position.
The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council is an Indian
Reorganization Act government established by the USA law known as Wheeler-Howard
Act of 1934, which derives its purported claims to jurisdiction over Indian
County to the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution.
As such the OST
does NOT represent the traditional form of government of the Sioux
people, nor can it have equal standing in a Treaty Dispute with the US
government.
It was forced on the Oglala Sioux Tribe by the
American government in 1935.
Also NOT in traditional Sioux culture is inherited
leadership which is passed down from one generation in a family to another,
like King Charles recently in England. Since the old leader’s sons had already
died, some of the men said that as the OST had established the BHNSC then the
OST should appoint the leader. These were the young men who had held positions
within the OST. Others said that a leader could be chosen within the BHSNC.
Either way, the people were left out. A few years earlier, the BHSNC had already
passed a motion that women could not talk about the treaty. The word ‘treaty’
was left out of the original establishment of the BHSNC but was included when
talking about the organization and some call it that today.
So, Floyd Hand Sr., one of the men vying for the
leadership position, hired Mr. William Bielecki, a white lawyer, to do the
research on Inherent Powers to determine the process of choosing a leader. The
Bielecki Report is the consequence of that request.
The concept of “Inherent Powers” as far as I know, was
not in the Oceti Sakowin (Sioux) culture. The nation followed the ways of the
buffalo in which ability combined with compassion and survival of the whole
were the most sought qualities of a leader. The old female buffaloes are the
leaders of the groups, with one chosen by the whole to lead the whole group.
The Oceti Sakowin practiced this with the Kahtela (warclub) Society of old
women. However, the forced assimilation by the American government with collusion
of the white people tried to change that concept through the boarding school
process and in all of their dealings with the Sioux people.
The Bielecki Report and the concept of Inherent Powers
is important today as it pointed out that the 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council
“represents all of the Sioux tribes (Approx. 49 Tribes) and all other Sioux
Treaty Councils would be subordinate to it, regardless of the Treaty Council’s
name.” This was important as all those Sioux people following the colonizers’
ways would finally understand that the 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council, which
was established by the people forty (40) years prior to the IRA governments,
was still the ultimate voice of ALL the Sioux people.
Q2:
Why is this clarification even more critical to understand today with the UN
attempting to subvert the inherent powers of the Original Nations of Indigenous
Peoples, including International Treaty Rights - by inserting without
consultation or consent Article 46 into the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples in 2007?
This clarification and understanding today is very
critical as the United Nations is NOT a friend to Indigenous Peoples. Instead,
the UN is further empowering the colonizing governments by establishing international
standards to continue the oppression of Indigenous Peoples and Nations. The
status of International Treaties made between Original Nations and colonizing
governments, at a time when those colonizing governments were in infant stages,
are now being subjected to colonizing government laws and constitutions.
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
was to solidify the status of Indigenous peoples and their treaties equal to
the standards of all peoples, especially white people. However, the betrayal by
the UN of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the inclusion
of Article 46 without the consent of Indigenous Peoples squashed all rights to
any equal status. Instead, Indigenous nations are in more peril with no place
to go with serious concerns and mitigation.
As the 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council is totally
aware of these dire consequences, their discussions and position to maintain
continuity in their stand is more than essential. It is vitally necessary for
the survival of the Sioux Nation as a distinct nation.
*************************************************
William J. Bielecki, Sr.
P.O. Box 1990 Pine Ridge, SD 57770
Tel: (605) 867-5028 Fax: (605)
867-1006
(Advocate before the Oglala Sioux
Tribal Court)
October 5, 2008
Mr. Floyd Hand, Sr.
P.O. Box 150
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE
PINE RIDGE, SOUTH DAKOTA
TRIBAL INHERENT POWERS
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Dear
Mr. Hand;
This
submission is in response pursuant to your request for a legal opinion
reflecting the nature of "Inherent Powers”, and how the known body
politics of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, and the Oglala Sioux Treaty
Council, respectively, is to be lawfully regarded as governing entities.
As
you may know, there still remains considerable controversy regarding the 2006
elections. Without going into evidentiary background, it is important that I
first point out that the 2006 elections allegedly involved a series of
political manipulations that resulted in the Court of Election Appeal’s to
issue an “Order” on November 06, 2006, for new Primary and General Elections
of the entire
Council. It is my present
understanding that, to date, the Court of Election Appeals had never rescinded
nor reversed that order. As many may realize, neither the Election Board or the
candidates for elective office ever honored the order in question for new
elections, and as such, the legitimacy of the current Council is still greatly
at suspect, with the exception of Mr. Gerald Big Crow who lawfully filled a
vacancy of the Tribal Council in mid 2008 election, by and through a separate
election held in the Pine Ridge Village.
I
also need to point out that based on the above 2006 election issue, I must
notify you that I have represented in Tribal litigation, a number of
enrolled Tribal Members in opposition to
the alleged defiance of the Election Board and candidates for elective office
reflecting the 2006 elections, and said litigation is most likely not complete
or final.
I
also must point out that I had the opportunity to appear as a professional
witness in behalf of Mr. Alex White Plume before the Court of Elections Appeals
on November 5, 2006. I volunteered to come forward as a professional witness in
light of my being an Officer of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Court (licensed
Advocate), but mostly "in the interest of justice,"
thereby defending the Constitution and By-Laws of the United States and of the
Constitution and Ordinances of the Oglala Sioux Nation, of which I take very
seriously.
Furthermore,
I would like to add that my undertaking as a witness back in November 2006, and
in the preparation of this opinion, was and is done so without compensation of
any kind. I have no personal interest in the outcome of any Council
legislation, nor Tribal Elections, other than maintaining the human/civil
rights of the Tribal Citizens. I do this strictly in the interest of
justice for the preservation of human/civil rights of all the citizens
of the Oglala Sioux Nation and/or indigenous peoples wherever.
You
may also be aware that: although I only carry a law license for the Oglala
Sioux Nation Tribal Courts, I have personally practiced 3 years in the Oglala
Sioux Tribal Courts and have 18 years of varied personal litigation experience
in the Federal Seventh Circuit Court (Chicago, ILL) (bankruptcy & judicial
circuit); the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; the 18th Circuit Court
(DuPage County, Illinois); the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit, MI); the
Second Judicial District Appellate Court of Illinois; and the Illinois State
Supreme Court. My background also includes being a former licensed tax
practitioner that included negotiating offers and compromises before the
Internal Revenue Service, in addition to being President and Vice President of
a number of various corporations, enterprises and special projects.
Having
said all that, I will place this particular issue of the 2006 elections aside,
and attempt to respond to your request as objectively as possible and in the
light most favorable of giving the benefit of doubt, that the present Council
is duly authorized to act in an official capacity, strictly for the purposes of
the issues defined below. However, I do so without waiving any rights,
privileges, immunities or responsibilities of any of the parties that may
become part of further litigation, whether I personally represent them or not,
reflecting the 2006 elections.
Mr. Hand, I had an opportunity to speak with you and several other
distinguished Lakota elders, not to mention reviewing numerous documents,
definitions, and case law history, regarding "Tribal Inherent Powers."
While Tribal Inherent Powers may vary from tribe to tribe, especially with wide
submission to Federal Pub. L. 280 laws, I will focus only on Oglala Sioux
Nation Tribal Nation Inherent Powers.
Based
on the preliminary issues you have presented to me, and after further thought
and reflection and reviewing a number documents, it became my understanding
that I needed to first provide some basic definitions before going further,
each taken from Black's law Dictionary, 5th edition, as follows:
Exclusive and Innate
What is the legal definition of Inherent
Powers and/or Authority;
What is the legal definition of Sovereignty;
What is he legal definition of Sovereign
states;
What is the legal definition of Sovereign
right;
What is the legal definition of Sovereign
people;
What is the legal definition of Sovereign
power or sovereign prerogative;
*******
Limited by Law and Nature
What is the legal definition of Sovereign
Immunity;
What is the legal definition of Clipped
Sovereignty;
*******
How, when and why was the Treaty
Council(s) formed?
How, when and why was the Oglala Sioux
Tribal Council formed?
What is the Indian Reorganization
Act of 1934 (Title 25, Section 476 of the U.S. Code) and its enacted purposes?
*******
Inherent powers. An authority possessed without its
being derived from another. A right, ability, or faculty of doing a thing,
without receiving that right, ability, or faculty from another. Powers
originating from the nature of government or sovereignty, i.e., powers over and
beyond those explicitly granted in the Constitution or reasonably to be implied
from express grants.
Sovereign Immunity. Doctrine precludes litigant from
asserting an otherwise meritorious cause of action against a sovereign or a
party with sovereign attributes unless sovereign consents to suit. Principe
Compania Naviera, S. A. v. Board of Com'rs of Port of New Orleans, D.C.La., 333
F.Supp 353, 355. Historically, the federal and state governments, and
derivatively cities and towns, were immune from tort liability arising from
activities which were governmental in nature. Most jurisdictions, however, have
abandoned this doctrine in favor of permitting tort actions with certain
limitations and restrictions. See Federal Tort Claims Act; Governmental
immunity; Tort Claims Acts.
Sovereign people. The political body, consisting of
the entire number of citizens and qualified electors, who, in their collective
capacity, possess the powers of sovereignty and exercise them through their
chosen representatives. See Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 404, 15 LEd. 691.
Sovereign power or sovereign
prerogative. That
power in a state to which none other is superior or equal, and which includes
all the specific powers necessary to accomplish the legitimate ends and
purposes of government. iEtna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Bramwell,
D.C.Or., 12 F.2d 307, 309.
Sovereign right. A right which the state alone, or
some of its governmental agencies, can possess, and which it possesses in the
character of a sovereign, for the common benefit, and to enable it to carry out
its proper functions; distinguished from such “proprietary" rights as a
state, like any private person, may have in property or demands which it owns.
Sovereign states. States whose subjects or citizens
are in the habit of obedience to them, and which are not themselves subject to
any other (or paramount) state in any respect. The state is said to be
semisovereign only, and not sovereign, when in any respect or respects it is
liable to be controlled (like certain of the states in India) by a paramount government
(e.g., by the British empire). In the intercourse of nations, certain states
have a position of entire independence of others, and can perform all those
acts which it is possible for any state to perform in this particular sphere.
These same states have also entire power of self-government; that is, of
independence upon all other states as far as their own territory and citizens
not living abroad are concerned. No foreign power or law can have control
except by convention. This power of independent action in external and internal
relations constitutes complete sovereignty.
Sovereignty. The supreme, absolute, and
uncontrollable power by which any independent state is governed; supreme
political authority; paramount control of the constitution and frame of
government and its administration; the self-sufficient source of political
power, from which all specific political powers are derived; the international
independence of a state, combined with the right and power of regulating its
internal affairs without foreign dictation; also a political society, or state,
which is sovereign and independent.
The power to do everything in a state
without accountability, to make laws, to execute and to apply them to impose
and collect taxes and levy contributions, to make war or peace, to form
treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like.
Sovereignty in government is that public authority which directs or orders what
is to be done by each member associated in relation to the end of the
association. It is the supreme power by which any citizen is governed and is
the person or body of persons in the state to whom there is politically no
superior. The necessary existence of the state and that right and power which
necessarily follow is "sovereignty·." By "sovereignty" in
its largest sense is meant supreme, absolute, uncontrollable power, the absolute
right to govern. The word which by itself comes nearest to being the definition
of "sovereignty" is will or volition as applied to political affairs.
City of Bisbee v. Cochise County, 52 Ariz, 1, 78 P.2d 982, 986.
Clipped Sovereignty. In the relations of the several
states of the United States to other nations, the states' have what is termed
as clipped sovereignty. Anderson v. N. V. Transadine handebmaatschappij,
Sup., 28 N.Y.S2d 547, 552.
My
submission is as follows:
It
is my understanding, supported by the Sioux signatories, that the Sioux Nation Treaty
Councils were officially,
recognized, though not necessarily named the same, and with mutual consent and
acceptance by both the United States
Federal Government and the Native Indians, back in 1851 at Fort Laramie, when
the 1851 Treaty was first signed.
Sioux
Indians
______________________________
Sioux:
Mah-toe-wha-you-whey,
his x mark.
Mah-kah-toe-zah-azh,
his x mark.
Bel-o-ton-kah-tan-ga,
his x mark.
Nah-ka-pah-gi-gi,
his x mark.
Mak-toe-sah-bi-chis,
his x mark.
Meh-wha-tahni-hans-kah,
his x mark.
*******
US
Government
In
the presence of –
A.B.
Chambers, secretary.
S.
Cooper, Colonel, U.S. Army
S.
Cooper, Colonel, U.S. Army
Thomas
Duncan, Captain, Mounted Riflemen
Thos.
G. Rhett, Brevet captain R.M.R.
W.I.
Elliot, First lieutenant R.M.R.
H.
Culbertson, interpreter for Assiniboine and Gros Ventres.
Francois
L=Etalie, interpreter for Arickarees
John
Pizelle, interpreter for the Arrapahos
B.
Gratz Brown
Robert
Campbell
Edmond
F. Chouteau
John
S. Smith, interpreter for Cheyennes
Robert
Medlrum, interpreter for the Crows
*******
It
is my further understanding, supported by the Oglala Sioux signatories, that
the Oglala Sioux Nation Treaty Council was officially recognized, though not
necessarily named the same, and with mutual consent and acceptance oy both the
United States Federal Government and the Native Indians, back in 1868 at Fort
Laramie, when the 1868 Treaty was signed.
15 Stat., 635 of US Code
Ratified, Feb. 16, 1869.
Proclaimed, Feb 24, 1869
Articles
of a treaty made and concluded by and between Lieutenant-General William T.
Sherman, General William S. Harney, General Alfred H. Terry, General C. C,.
Augur, J.B. Henderson, Nathiel G. Taylor, John B. Sanborn) and Samuel F.
Tappan, duly appointed commissioners on the part of the United States, and
the different bands of the Sioux Nation of Indians, by their chiefs and
head-men, whose names are hereto subscribed, they being duly authorized to act
in the premises.
Oglala
Sioux Indians
____________________________________________________
Tah-shun-ka-co-qui-pah,
his x mark, Man-afraid-of-his-horses. (SEAL]
Sha-ton-skah,
his mark, White Hawk. [SEAL]
Sha-ton-sapah,
his x mark, Black Hawk [SEAL]
E-ga-mon-ton-ka-sapah,
his x mark, Black Tiger [SEAL]
Oh-wah-she-cha,
his x mark, Bad Wound. [SEAL]
Pah-gee,
his x mark, Grass. [SEAL]
Wah-non-reh-che-geh,
his x mark, Ghost Heart. [SEAL]
Con-reeh,
his x mark, Crow. [SEAL]
Oh-he-te-kah,
his x mark, The Brave. [SEAL]
Tah-ton-kah-he-yo-ta-kah,
his x mark, Sitting Bull. [SEAL]
Shon·ka-oh-wah-mon-ye,
his x mark , Whirlwind Dog. [SEAL]
Ha-hah-kah-tah-m
iee h, his x mark, Poor Elk. [SEAL]
Wam-bu-lee-wah-kon,
his x mark, Medicine Eagle. [SEAL]
Chon-gah-ma-he-to-hans-ka,
his x mark, High Wolf [SEAL]
Wah-se-chun-ta-shun-kah,
his x mark, American Horse. [SEAL]
Mah-hah-
mah-ha-mak-near , his x mark, Man that walks under the ground. [SEAL]
Mah-to-tow-pah,
his x mark, Four Bears. [SEAL]
Ma-to-wee-sha-kta,
his x mark, One that kills the bear. [SEAL]
Oh-tah-kee-toka-wee-chakta,
his x mark, One that kills in a hard place. [SEAL]
Tah-ton-kah-ta-mieeh,
his x mark, The poor Bull. [SEAL]
Oh-huns-ee-ga-non-sken,
his x mark, Mad Shade. [SEAL]
Shah-ton-oh-nah-om-minne
ne-oh-minne, his x mark, Whirling Hawk. (SEAL]
Mah-to-ehun-ka-oh,
his x mark, Bear's Back. [SEAL]
Che-ton-wee-koh,
his x mark, Fool Hawk. [SEAL]
Wah-hoh-ke-za-ah-hah,
his x mark; One that has the lance. [SEAL]
Shon-gah-manni-toh-tan-ka-seh,
his x mark, Big Wolf Foot. [SEAL]
Eh-ton-kah,
his x mark, Big Mouth. (SEAL]
Ma-pah-che-tah,
his x mark, Bad Hand. [SEAL]
Wah-ke-yun-sha,
his x mark, Red Thunder [SEAL]\
Wak-sah,
his x mark, One that Cuts Off. [SEAL]
Cham-nom-qui-yah,
his x mark, One that Presents the Pipe. [SEAL]
Wah-ke-ke-yan-puh-tah,
his x mark, Fire Thunder. [SEAL]
Mah-to-nonk-pah-ze,
his x mark, Bear with Yellow Ears. [SEAL]
Con-ree-teh-ka,
his x mark, The Little Crow. [SEAL]
He-hup-pah-toh,
his x mark, The Blue War Club, [SEAL]
Shon-kee-toh,
his x mark, The Blue Horse. [SEAL]
Wam-balla-oh-con-quo,
his x mark, Quick Eagle. [SEAL]
Ta-tonka-suppa,
his x mark, Black Bull. [SEAL]
Moh-to-ha-she-na,
his x mark, The Bear Hide. [SEAL]
*******
US
Government
Attest:
S.E.Ward.
Jas.
C. O'Connor.
J.M.
Sherwood.
W.
C. Slicer.
Sam Deon.
H.
M. Matthews.
Joseph
Bissonette, interpreter.
Nicholas Janis, interpreter.
Lefroy
Jott, interpreter.
Antoine
Janis, interpreter.
*******
While
the treaties and the terms thereof were primarily established to bring closure
to war, clearly said treaties were created between two or more separate
nations, independent by nature and law to one and another, the United States
and the various separate bands of the great Sioux Nation. Each band representing separate tribes. Prior to this period, commonly referred to
Tribal Councils represented the Oyate (people) without interference of foreign
or independent powers. Each nation had
their own military and arms, and means of commerce independent from one and
another, although they often traded with each other. It is totally irrelevant
that the militaries and means of commerce were unequally matched. What is relevant is that prior to the
treaties, each Nation maintained unrestricted or full Inherent Powers and Sovereignty. If restricted, then restricted only by the
nature and horrors of greed and war. It must be kept in mind that though a
dominion power may restrict by force the free exercise of lnherent Power
and Sovereignty, it can never restrict or encumber the Inherent
Right to use said Inherent Power. However, it can be waived,
forfeited or given away, but must be done voluntarily, or Inherent Right still
prevails.
Soon
after the treaties were entered into, the United States had broken the treaties
of which I will not elaborate on in this opinion.
Long
before the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), the United States Supreme Court
first recognized inherent tribal sovereignty in Worcester v. Georgia
in 1832, holding that Indian nations were "distinct, independent
political communities, retaining their original natural rights . . . from time
immemorial."
Assimilation
and Allotment period 1871 - 1928
This
period began with the end of the more infamous Indian wars and, the capture,
surrender, or death of such notable personalities: Cochise and Geronimo of the Apaches,
Little Wolf and Dull Knife of the Northern Cheyenne, and Crazy Horse, Red
Cloud, Sitting Bull and Black Elk of the Sioux.
After a series of Congressional
acts without the consent of the Indians, the congress then passed the Indian
reorganization Act of 1934, that virtually led to approximately 61 Indians
Tribes extinct over the next 20 years.
The
preamble o the Indian reorganization Act of 1934 clearly states:
(Wheeler-Howard Act - 48 Stat. 984 -
25 U.S.C. § 461 et seq )
--An Act to conserve and develop
Indian lands and resources; to extend to Indians the right to form business and
other organizations; to establish a credit system for Indians; to grant certain
rights of home rule to Indians; to provide for vocational education for
Indians; and for other purposes.
Sec. 2. The right to alter, amend, or
repeal this Act is hereby expressly reserved (original on record).
Approved, June 18, 1934.
While
the phrase and for other purposes is ambiguously vague and could not
lawfully hold up in Court, the balance of the intentions was clearly to
encourage tribes to set up business entities, whether incorporated or not; of
which to deal with the Federal-Government (638 contrac funds) and state and private
entities. The Bureau of Indian affairs (BIA) was directed by the US Congress to
author and assist in drafting Constitutions for the Tribes that forced pledges
to the United States of America, even though the Tribes still would not be
allowed to enjoy full citizenship, simply because of ancestry.
EssentialIy,
what the US Congress provided was a Sovereign Immunity and a Clipped
Sovereignty. The constitutionality of the Indian reorganization Act has
been under attack in the US Supreme Court .
The
Supreme Court has been asked repeatedly to address the constitutionality of the
IRA by a number of states d will hear a land-into-trust case. In 1995, the
Eighth Circuit declared the IRA unconstitutional. The U.S. Department of the Interior sought U.S. Supreme Court review. The DOI then
implemented new regulations and
asked the U.S. Supreme Court to remand it to the lower courts to reconsider
their decision based on the new regulations. The U.S. Supreme Court Granted the
petition, vacated the lower court's ruling and remanded the case back to the
lower court. Justices Scalia, O'Connor and Thomas dissented and stated in their
opinion that "[t]he decision today--to grant, vacate, and remand in light
of the Government's changed position---is both unprecedented and inexplicable "and"[w]hat
makes today's action inexplicable as well as unprecedented is the fact that the
Government's change of legal position does not even purport to be applicable to
the present case." The dissent has no precedential value bearing on the
actual legal issues. Seven months after the Supreme Court's decision to grant,
vacate, and remand, the DOI removed the land from trust. In 1997 the Tribe
submitted an amended application to the Secretary, requesting that the United
States take the land into trust on the Tribe's behalf. The Eighth Circuit
reexamined the constitutionality issue and affirmed the IRA's
constitutionality.
Currently,
Carcieri v Kempthorne is before the U.S. Supreme Court. Rhode
Island officials sued on grounds that the IRA is unconstitutional, but the
Supreme Court declined to review this particular question. The Respondents'
briefs are currently due by August 11, 2008, and oral arguments have not been
scheduled. Recently, in MichGO v Kempthorne, Judge Janice
Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals authored a dissent that
struck down key provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Of the three
circuit courts to address the IRA's constitutionality, Judge Brown is the only
judge to opine that the land into trust process violates the U.S. Constitution.
The First, Eighth and Tenth Circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals have upheld
its constitutionality. And even as I write this opinion, a challenge to the
U.S. Department of lnterior's decision to take land into trust for the Oneida
Indian Nation, Upstate Citizens for Equality, New York State, Oneida
County, Madison County, the town of Verona, the town of Vernon,
and others argue that the IRA is unconstitutional.
The
Indian Reorganization Act in its Section 19, arbitrarily combined or
joined non-member Indians of a Tribe while residing on a reservation with the
member Indians of the same reservation for voting purposes in the acceptance of
the Act. Furthermore, the BIA required the allegiance to the US Government as
evidenced by the Preamble of the Oglala Sioux Nation Tribal Constitution, in
direct contradiction to Inherent Powers, as follows:
PREAMBLE
We the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation, in order to establish a more perfect organization,
promote the general welfare, conserve and develop our lands and resources,
secure to ourselves and our posterity the power to exercise certain rights of
home rule not inconsistent with Federal laws and our treaties, and in
recognition of God Almighty and His Divine Providence, do ordain and establish
this constitution for the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
CONSTITUTION OF THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE
ARTICLE IV - POWERS OF THE COUNCIL
SECTION 1. Enumerated Powers - The Oglala
Sioux Tribal Council shall exercise the following powers, subject to any
limitations imposed by the statutes or the Constitution of the United States
and subject further to all express restrictions upon such powers contained in
this constitution and attached by-laws.
CONSTITUTIONAL BY-LAWS
Article III - Oath of Office
SECTION 1. Each member of the tribal council and each
officer elected or appointed hereunder, shall take an oath of office prior to
assuming the duties thereof; by which oath he shall pledge himself to support
and defend the Constitution of the United States and this constitution and
by-laws.
(Oath) I, ______________do solemnly
swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies; carry out faithfully and impartially the duties of my office
to the best of my ability, promote and protect the best interests of my tribe,
the Oglala Sioux, in accordance with this constitution and by-laws.
CONCLUSION
Various
historians have determined that the "Sioux Nation Treaty Council"
formally formed in 1894, shortly after the Wounded Knee massacre.
The Sioux Nation Treaty Council represents all of the Sioux Tribes (Approx. 49
Tribes), and all other Sioux Treaty Councils would be subordinate to it,
regardless of the Treaty Council's name. The current delegates of the Black
Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, Oglala Band is subordinate only to the Black
Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council and the Sioux Nation Treaty Councils and the
Oyate. The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council does not have authority from the Sioux
Nation Treaty Council to add nor withdraw delegates from the Sioux Nation
Treaty Councils simply because it does not possess the Inherent Power or
authority to do so. This authority can come only through independence of all
other nations. The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council simply can never possess
Inherent Power over the Oyate or People, and never can. This does not mean that
it cannot continue to operate as a business entity and seek counsel with the
Treaty Councils and work together. However, the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty
Council, Oglala Band possesses Inherent Power and Authority over the Tribal
Council, simply because the Tribal Council is nothing more than business entity
manufactured or structured by the foreign nation commonly called the United
States of America, as a matter of law. How
the delegates are chosen and removed is a matter strictly held for the Chiefs,
Headsmen, the Oyate and the great Sioux Nation Treaty Councils, respectively.
The provision
in the Oglala Sioux Constitution By-Laws where it states:
Article VI - National Sioux Council
SECTION
1. The tribal council
may appoint delegates to represent the Oglala Sioux Tribe to national councils.
is
moot because the Sioux Nation Treaty Councils, or national Sioux Councils has
the Inherent Powers on the acceptance and removal of any of the
delegates to its Councils! It is irrelevant
that the Tribal Council may have appointed delegates to the Treaty Councils or
national councils, the Councils have accepted them and the Treaty Councils or
national councils, Chiefs, Headsmen and the Oyate respectively only have the Inherent
Power to remove them.
Respectfully
Submitted,
(Signature)
William
Bielecki, Sr.
Oglala
Inherent Powers Memorandum Opinion
Oct. 5, 2008
ANNEX:
OFFICE OF
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
1994/45. Draft United Nations declaration on the
rights of
Indigenous Peoples
The
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
Article 36
Indigenous peoples have the right to the
recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties, agreements and other
constructive arrangements concluded with States or their successors, according
to their original spirit and intent, and to have States honour and respect such
treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements. Conflicts and disputes which cannot otherwise
be settled should be submitted to competent international bodies agreed to by
all parties concerned.
