Court decision is final

The higher court has ruled, the decision is final. The stay issued by the Appellate Court Chief Justice Alivina Aubele to postpone the removal hearing of Melanie Benjamin has been vacated. The Band Assembly, rather the RBC, (Reservation Business Committee who are actually the same people as the Band Assembly) cannot be held in contempt of court, and the removal of Melanie Benjamin stands.

So, what does that mean in English? The court of appeals decided the chief justice made a mistake in issuing the order to postpone the hearing. They withdrew the order. They canceled it as though it never existed.

But they didn't make the decision lightly. They took their time — nearly two full days — to come to a decision. In an 18-page ruling — a published document from the court — they explained how they came up with their decision. They cited similar hearings and rulings. They did some research. Their decision is final.

Once they made their decision, however, they basically slapped the hands of the Band Assembly. They said they were very disappointed the Band Assembly chose to ignore a court order. Even if they believed it to be invalid, it was still a court order and they should have taken a different route to dispute it, they said. The Band Assembly, or PBC, should not have just gone ahead and ignored it, the court said. "You cannot just take the law into your own hands," the ruling stated.

But after the court declared the order invalid, they could not go ahead and claim the Band Assembly was in contempt of the order, even if they wanted to, because the order was vacated. So they — Band Assembly — is off the hook on the contempt charge.

But the court decided they could issue a fine. They charged the Band Assembly $500 for ignoring the order. They slapped their hands and said they were naughty. It is unclear, even to the OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) whether the court is charging each member of the Band Assembly — there are 4 of them — individually $500, or it the $500 should be paid by the Band Assembly as a whole. The OSG is going to find out.

The $500 fine could be compared to taking a child's GameBoy away for a half hour as punishment for disobeying his parents. It doesn't hurt much and not for very long.

So once the order was declared invalid, the court agreed they had no jurisdiction under the separation of powers government to interfere with the removal process of an elected official. So the decision of the RBC — the Band Assembly — to remove Melanie Benjamin from office is final.

I have to say that Melanie has been a public class act in this entire process. She proclaimed her innocence and continued her daily activities. She held her head high as she waited the outcome. Her staff was instructed to continue on with their work, even up until they were all escorted out of the government center by Tribal Police.

When it came time to enter the room for the hearing and when she walked into the court room, she did so with dignity.

That shows courage.

Since the final ruling from the Court of Appeals, a source close to the office has said some of Melanie's previous staff members have been asked to come back to work. They didn't know what to do and asked for advice from their previous boss. She told them to go back to work. To do their jobs to the best of their ability. To be respectful.

That shows the wisdom of a leader.

Whether Melanie is innocent of the accusations made against her, or she is guilty of them has yet to be determined. There have been no formal charges filed in any court of law. Therefore, there has been no trial and there has been no conviction.

Whatever you believe on that aspect is your personal choice at this point. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes in Melanie's world. All I can attest to is how she has treated me, and how she has acted in public. She has always been fair and respectful to me. She returns my phone calls personally — not through her PR firm — whenever possible. She has always exuded an air of dignity when in public — at least where I have seen her.

I hope I can say the same thing about the new administration in the Chief Executive's office.