Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne delivered her quarterly message to the Navajo Nation Council on the first day of the summer session on July 20.  In her message, she outlined the Judicial Branch’s response to the public health emergency due to COVID-19. The Judicial Branch had to immediately take protective measures by restricting travel, approving teleworking for certain employees, and quickly developing methodical processes for continued operations of essential services.

“The safety of our employees is our number one priority and the safety of the public is also our number one priority,” Jayne said. “We knew right away that we had to provide stability, we had to provide...

‘All powers originate from the Navajo people’

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer are calling on the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors to move forward with a referendum measure in the upcoming Navajo Nation General Election by allowing Navajo voters to decide whether or not Navajo Nation law should be amended to state that “all powers originate from the Navajo people” and that the “Navajo people maintain the inherent power and authority to govern themselves.” If approved by voters, the ballot measure would codify and protect the Navajo peoples’ inherent right of governance over those in tribal government.

As a...

Courts duel over restaurants reopening

The New Mexico Supreme Court granted an emergency request by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to stay an order issued earlier that on July 20 in Carlsbad.

That Carlsbad order by Judge Raymond Romero of the Fifth Judicial District Court in Eddy and Chaves counties would have allowed indoor dining at restaurants in New Mexico, despite an emergency health order to the contrary. The decision came at the request of the New Mexico Restaurant Association, which was seeking to overturn the governor’s emergency health order July 13 (7.13.20-PHO-1).

The order from Carlsbad said that restaurants and breweries in the state could reopen indoor dining at...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to heavily armed, unmarked federal forces in unmarked vehicles grabbing protestors off the streets in Portland, Ore., on July 21, Senators Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., are helping introduce the bicameral Preventing Authoritarian Policing Tactics on America’s Streets Act.

The legislation would block the Trump administration from deploying federal law enforcement as a shadowy paramilitary against Americans, over the objections of state and local leaders. Udall and Heinrich are also cosponsoring the legislation as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.

“Congress needs to take immediate action...