When Patrick Lambert won the 2015 race for principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, he saw the victory as a direct mandate from voters. 

Patrick Lambert was removed from office following a controversial impeachment process in 2017, but with the 2019 election season underway he’s saying that the impeachment shouldn’t stop him from running again. 

While the federal marriage fraud case that’s been the topic of much discussion on the Qualla Boundary over the past year is winding down, FBI activity in Cherokee is likely to continue. 

An investigation into the legality of a lawsuit settlement in which Principal Chief Richard Sneed agreed to pay seven former tribal employees a total $698,000 has been completed, with a May 15 press release summarizing the investigation’s results identifying no wrongdoing. 

Nine months after arguments concluded in a dispute over the process used to impeach then-Principal Chief Patrick Lambert, the Cherokee Supreme Court issued a full, 22-page opinion on the matter. 

While nearly a year has passed since former Principal Chief Patrick Lambert was removed from office, a court hearing March 29 showed that debate over the legality of the process is not dead. 

Seven tribal employees who were fired or demoted when former Principal Chief Patrick Lambert took office in 2015 have received a combined $698,000 in settlement payouts following a November agreement that Lambert made public this week.

Cherokee elders will no longer have power, water or sewer bills to worry about following a divided Tribal Council vote July 6 to pass legislation that former Principal Chief Patrick Lambert had put forward during his term.

After three full days of testimony and four hours of waiting for a verdict, silence reigned at the Cherokee council house May 25 as Tribal Council convened to deliver its final decision on whether to remove Principal Chief Patrick Lambert from office.

In the three days of testimony that comprised Principal Chief Patrick Lambert’s impeachment hearing, Lambert himself was by far the most prominent witness, spending a total of seven hours on the stand spread over two days.