Noah Feldman, Columnist

The Cherokee Nation Wants a Voice in Congress. Give It One.

Treaties signed in 1785 and 1835 give it the right to a non-voting delegate.

August 29, 2019 at 2:30 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

The Cherokee Nation deserves a voice in Congress
Photographer: Gwengoat/iStockphoto

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It’s a great story: the Cherokee Nation is asserting its right to send a delegate to Congress under treaties dating back to 1785 and 1835.

But it is also potentially a legal puzzle in the making. The 1785 treaty says the tribe is entitled to send a “deputy” to Congress whenever it wants. But that was before the Constitution, so “Congress” was a different body — and it isn’t clear what the role of a “deputy” would have been. A quasi-permanent presence of a Cherokee representative? Or simply someone who would show up on a one-time basis to speak on behalf of the tribe?