Viewing page 23 of 69

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-7-

And that is the one way that we can attack this problem. Now after this is argued, if the Supreme Court of this state holds that that particular provision is unconstitutional then we know our Indians on the reservation will be allowed to vote in this election. If they should rule against us in this matter, then our next method of attack will of course, be to go to the legislature, and show them its unfair discrimination because the statute was originated back two years after statehood was granted for reasons that are not at all applicable today and I have considerable confidence in what the state legislature will do for us in this regard [[crossed-out]] and[[/crossed-out]] I have appeared before the legislature on many occasions and I believe that if we are unsuccessful this time, we will lose the right to vote this time but that it will eventually cleared up by the legislature. I am sorry that it hasn't been cleared up before, because it might have been done prior to this time and done away with the possibility of being raised in this fashion. Now, its a little bit difficult to see how it happened this time and why the Attorney General would want to rule differently than two previous Attorney Generals have done, but I do not want to be unduly critical of him becuase in discussing it with [[crossed-out]]him [[/crossed-out]] him & with Mr. Presswell, I was quite convinced that he was doing it on the basis that he thought that the Attorney General should not rule upon the constitutionality of the statue when there is any question about it, but he thought that could be properly raised and decided in the Supreme Court. Now whether thats right or whether it isn't right is a question that can be argued, but I think that he was prompted by proper motives, and I don't want to imply that he was just going to do something to hurt the Indians., so that they could not vote. So roughtly, that is the situation and let me say this: That the Ute Indians of this state are embarking upon a venture that is unique in the United States . We want, if we possibly can, to have a proper transition, rather than just have the government dump us, so to speak. We felt very keenly with respect to the legislation in the past in regard to the Southern Paiute. We felt that they were not being treated fairly. They were not ready and they had not been properly prepared and so they were simply terminated

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-23 22:54:00 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-27 21:18:38 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-27 23:47:43 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-28 11:28:30