Two former leaders of the Shinnecock Nation of New York are asking the Bureau of Indian Affairs to invalidate the tribe's new constitution.

Not enough tribal members approved the new document, former trustees Lance Gumbs and Gordell Wright said in a letter to BIA Eastern Regional Director Franklin Keel. As a result, they claim a subsequent election was invalid.

The tribe wrote the new constitution after winning federal recognition. It changed the governing structure from a board of three trustees to a council of seven trustees.

The tribe had worked under the three-member board since 1792.

Get the Story:
Former Shinnecock leaders ask federal agency to reject new trustees council (Newsday 4/17)

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Shinnecock Nation elects new leaders under new constitution (12/11)