OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal judge granted a lower court’s motion to dismiss Thursday, thus allowing litigation to continue in an intertribal dispute.
By siding with the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Court of Indian Offenses, Judge Timothy DiGiusti with the Western District of Oklahoma ruled that the federal court system will hold off exercising jurisdiction in the Caddo Nation’s leadership fight until all lower level legal remedies have been exhausted.
For almost a year, two factions of the Caddo Nation have claimed to be the tribe’s legitimate government with one group working out of the tribal complex near Binger and the other, led by Brenda Edwards, working off-site.
Earlier this year, Edwards filed a federal lawsuit and sought an emergency restraining order in an effort to prevent the Court of Indian Offenses from adjudicating the schism, claiming that the Anadarko-based court did not have jurisdiction over the tribe. The restraining order was denied and in his decision Thursday, DiGiusti noted that Edwards had not provided sufficient evidence to show that the Court of Indian Offenses lacked any authority over the tribe.
“The proceedings in the CFR Court were the first to be filed and a factual record has been made in those proceedings addressing the jurisdictional issue,” DiGiusti wrote. “Plaintiffs (Edwards) have the opportunity to be heard in that forum, to raise jurisdictional challenges there and to appeal any adverse determination.”
Headquartered in Binger, Okla., the Caddo Nation has about 5,500 enrolled citizens.