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FARMINGTON — A Navajo lawmaker is proposing to alter the qualifications for service on the Navajo Nation Supreme Court by requiring justices to hold a juris doctor degree.

Among the existing requirements in Navajo law for service on the high court are being a member of the Navajo Nation Bar Association, being an enrolled member of the tribe, not having any felony convictions or any misdemeanor convictions within five years prior to service and having a bachelor’s degree. But the law says an applicant who has earned a juris doctor, which is a law degree, or a master of laws shall be preferred.

Delegate Dwight Witherspoon, who represents Forest Lake, Hardrock, Kíts’íílí, Piñon and Whippoorwill chapters in Arizona, is sponsoring the legislation, which was posted on the council’s website on Jan. 29, starting its five-day public comment period.

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It was assigned to the Law and Order and Naa’bik’íyáti’ committees and the council, where final authority rests. If the council passed the bill, it would need the president’s approval to become law.

Attached to the bill are supporting resolutions from the Chinle Agency Council, Whippoorwill Chapter and Forest Lake Chapter.

The resolution from the Chinle Agency Council takes the qualifications a step further by including that justices have a Certificate of Indian Blood, be fluent in the Navajo language and be elected.

The Chinle Agency Council’s resolution also suggests these qualifications be applied to hearing officers under the tribe’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.

The resolutions from Whippoorwill Chapter and Forest Lake Chapter recommend the justices be state-licensed attorneys in good standing as well as holding law degrees.

Witherspoon could not be reached for comment about the bill, which indicates, if signed into law, that it would apply to current members of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Herb Yazzie was confirmed to the high court in April 2005 and received his law degree in 1975 from the Arizona State University College of Law.

He has been a member of the Utah State Bar since 1976.

Associate Justice Eleanor Shirley was confirmed as a permanent associate justice in October 2011 and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Fort Lewis College.

Both are members of the Navajo Nation Bar Association.

A third seat on the Supreme Court is vacant.

Witherspoon’s bill is similar to 2011 legislation that was sponsored by former council Delegate Russell Begaye.

The 2011 version also proposed amending the qualifications for justices by having them hold a law degree and a license to practice law from a state bar association.

At the time Begaye was sponsoring the bill, the Judicial Branch viewed it as undermining tribal sovereignty.

In a 2011 press release, the Judicial Branch stated that Navajo Nation law requires tribal judges and justices “be well-versed in Diné laws, traditions and customs, which are the basis of Diné Fundamental Law and common law.”

Another concern was that the proposed amendments would mean candidates for the high court would have diminished expertise in Navajo sovereign laws, which are applied first followed by federal then state laws.

Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4636 and nsmith@daily-times.com. Follow her @nsmithdt on Twitter.

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