Cherokee Nation sues the federal government, alleging mismanagement of a trust set up through treaties — some more than 200 years old.
"The United States is at its best when it's living up to its word, when it's accounting for past misdeeds and injustices and reconciling for those injustices," said Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin, Jr. "So, we think this is a great opportunity for this country to live up to those ideals."
The tribe’s federal lawsuit asks the U.S. government to provide a full accounting of Cherokee Nation property it managed. It also claims the tribe suffered losses from the government’s management of the trust.
"There's certainly lands and all that goes with that: water, timber, the other natural resources that you get from land," Hoskin said. "Certainly, there has been land that has been sold over the centuries, that has been leased over the centuries, and the United States does not know what they did with those resources, does not know what they did with the money derived from those resources."
Cherokee Nation isn't the only tribe in this situation, as the U.S. has treaties with nearly every tribe.
"Certainly, as the largest tribe in the United States, if the Cherokee Nation can hold the federal government accountable, we think it benefits all of Indian country because it continues us down a path of healing," Hoskin said. "It continues us on a path of reconciliation."
There’s currently no timeline for the lawsuit.
