The disenrollment of 18 members of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan has been overturned by the Tribal Office of Administrative Hearings. The status of the Mays family, which has been up and down over the years, now appears to be permanently resolved in favor of the members remaining in the tribe.
Last week a spokesman for the tribe told the press, “I feel that justice has been served.”
In making its ruling the hearing officers stated that the tribe had failed to “submit clear and convincing evidence that the family’s membership was procured as the result of a mistake.” The officials also ruled that the tribe failed to prove that the family would not be eligible for membership under its current standards.
The tribe had argued that the family was not lineally descended from an ancestor whose name appeared on the tribal rolls in the tribe’s 1891 Constitution Base Roll.
