## Facts

- Christopher C. Deschene ran for President of the Navajo Nation in the 2014 election cycle.
- Before the primary election, the Navajo Election Administration certified Deschene as eligible to run.
- In the primary election, Deschene received 9,831 votes and advanced to the general election as one of the top two candidates.
- The Navajo Election Code requires a presidential candidate to “fluently speak and understand Navajo” (and to read and write English).
- Deschene’s candidate application included a sworn avowal that he met the Election Code’s qualifications, including Navajo-language fluency.
- Dale Tsosie and Hank Whitethorne (among others) filed election grievances seeking to disqualify Deschene, alleging his sworn avowal of Navajo-language fluency was false.
- Deschene responded that the fluency requirement was ambiguous and discriminatory against younger Navajo citizens who were less likely to speak Navajo.
- The Navajo Nation Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) summarily dismissed the grievances as procedurally defective (including on timeliness and sufficiency grounds under the Election Code).
- Tsosie and Whitethorne appealed, and the Navajo Nation Supreme Court consolidated the matters under Nos. SC-CV-57-14 and SC-CV-58-14.

## Issues

1. Whether the OHA erred by summarily dismissing the grievances challenging Deschene’s qualifications under the Navajo Election Code.
2. Whether the challenge to Deschene’s Navajo-language fluency and sworn avowal required a merits hearing using a workable judicial standard for “fluently speak and understand Navajo.”

## Decision

- The Navajo Nation Supreme Court reversed the OHA’s dismissals.
- The Court remanded with instructions to reinstate the grievances.
- The Court ordered the OHA to conduct a hearing to determine whether Deschene should be disqualified as a presidential candidate.
- The Court directed the OHA to apply the Navajo-language fluency standard the Court adopted for evaluating the statutory requirement.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory qualifications for elected office in the Navajo Nation Election Code are enforceable in election-contest proceedings and may require fact-finding rather than summary dismissal.
- When an election statute uses an evaluative term such as “fluently speak and understand Navajo,” the Navajo Nation Supreme Court may interpret the requirement and supply an administrable standard for use in adjudications.
- A sworn candidate avowal of eligibility can be tested in an election grievance when the claim is that the avowal was untrue and the candidate therefore did not meet a mandatory qualification.
- Administrative dismissal rules and filing-limit provisions must be applied consistently with the Election Code’s purpose of ensuring that only qualified candidates appear on the ballot and advance in the election process.
- Claims implicating voters’ ability to choose among candidates do not eliminate the judiciary’s role in enforcing clear legislative eligibility requirements through fair procedures.

## Conclusion

The Navajo Nation Supreme Court held that the OHA wrongly dismissed the consolidated grievances seeking to disqualify presidential candidate Christopher Deschene for allegedly misrepresenting Navajo-language fluency, and it remanded for reinstatement and a merits hearing applying the Court’s adopted fluency standard to decide whether disqualification was required under the Election Code.


Tsosie v. Deschene, Nos. SC-CV-57-14, SC-CV-58-14, 12 Am. Tribal Law 55 (2014)