A judge for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Michigan approved the disenrollments of four people, a decision that will affect all of their descendants and possibly hundreds of others.

Judge Patrick Shannon said the tribe's Office of Administrative Hearings made a mistake by allowing the four to remain enrolled even though they don't have a direct ancestor on one of four base rolls. That means about 40 of their descendants will lose membership.

Up to 400 others -- or about 10.5. percent of the current membership -- could also be removed, The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun reported. They were allowed to enroll after tracing their ancestry to a sibling of a person on one of the base rolls.

The tribe contends that anyone who was enrolled as a "collateral" descendant has to be removed. The tribe's appellate court agreed last month in a decision that Shannon cited as precedent.

Get the Story:
Tribal judge strips four, and 40 descendants, of membership (The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun 11/5)

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Judge for Saginaw Chippewa Tribe delays enrollment decision (10/31)