Opinion

Letter: Board and tribes hold too much power over Fighting Sioux

Thursday, January 20, 2011

"The editorial is right about one thing: There are no checks and balances on the State Board of Higher Education. The board is totally free to enforce anything it desires, as and assistant attorney general indicated before the North Dakota Supreme Court.

But I remind Herald readers that cities answer to the state, the state answers to Congress and the White House, Congress and the White House answer to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court answers to the Constitution.

In other words (and as the rest of our system of government acknowledges), history has shown repeatedly that putting ultimate power in the hands of a few leads to abuse of that power. I believe that has happened with the state board’s actions and at Standing Rock.

I do not believe the Legislature intended to turn over ultimate power to the state board, nor did the people of Standing Rock intend to do the same with their tribal council.

I further suggest that you can have a tribe without a tribal council, but you can not have a tribal council without a tribe. The tribal council’s duty is to express — not silence — the views of the people."

Get the Story:
David Davidson: Board, tribal council wield too much power (The Grand Forks Herald 1/20)

Also Today:
Three bills seeking to preserve Fighting Sioux nickname to get joint hearing (The Grand Forks Herald 1/20)