1 2 3 4 со 12 an Indian tribe by the Federal Government on the basis of the lists published in the Federal Register by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Af fairs on July 10, 1986, of Indian tribal entities, includ5 ing Native tribal entities within the State of Alaska, and including tribes that have been acknowledged by the Federal Government between that date and the date of enactment of this Act that are recognized and 6 7 8 9 10 11 eligible to receive services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. (b)(1) A petition for acknowledgment may be in any 12 readable form which clearly indicates that it is a petition for 13 acknowledgment under either subsection (c) or (d). 14 (2) A petition for acknowledgment under this section 15 shall be accompanied by a copy of the petitioner's current 16 governing documents or, in the absence of written docu17 ments, a statement explaining the membership criteria and 18 the procedures by which the petitioner currently governs its 19 affairs and determines its membership. The petition shall also 20 be accompanied by a list of all known members, based on the 21 petitioner's own membership criteria and procedures. 22 (c) A petition for acknowledgment under this subsection 23 must contain information sufficient to establish that the peti24 tioner satisfies each of the following criteria: 13 (1) The petitioner, or the members of the petition er, have been identified from historical times until the present, on a continual basis, as Indians. This criterion is conclusively demonstrated by documentation of identification by Federal officials of the petitioner as Indians, or of the existence of a government-to-government, political, or administrative relationship with the United States, or a territory, but only for such times as that identification or relationship is documented. In the absence of such documentation, this criterion may also be demonstrated by the exercise of (A) a political relationship with a State, political subdivision of a State, parish, or other local government; (B) identification as Indians in courthouse, church, or school records, newspapers or books; (C) identification as Indians by anthropologists, historians, or other scholars; or (D) identification as Indians by Indian tribes or national Indian organizations. (2) A substantial portion of the members of the petitioner form a community, as determined by meth ods customarily employed by social scientists, including but not limited to field research, oral history, kinship analysis, studies of residence patterns, and statistically 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 an Indian tribe by the Federal Government on the basis of the lists published in the Federal Register by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs on July 10, 1986, of Indian tribal entities, including Native tribal entities within the State of Alaska, and including tribes that have been acknowledged by the Federal Government between that date and the date of enactment of this Act that are recognized and eligible to receive services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. (b)(1) A petition for acknowledgment may be in any 12 readable form which clearly indicates that it is a petition for 13 acknowledgment under either subsection (c) or (d). 14 (2) A petition for acknowledgment under this section 15 shall be accompanied by a copy of the petitioner's current 16 governing documents or, in the absence of written docu17 ments, a statement explaining the membership criteria and 18 the procedures by which the petitioner currently governs its 19 affairs and determines its membership. The petition shall also 20 be accompanied by a list of all known members, based on the 21 petitioner's own membership criteria and procedures. 22 (c) A petition for acknowledgment under this subsection 23 must contain information sufficient to establish that the peti24 tioner satisfies each of the following criteria: 1 2 3 4 5 6 15 (C) affidavits prepared by tribal elders or the governing body of the Indian group. (5) The membership of the petitioner is composed principally of persons who are not enrolled members of any other Indian 'tribe. (d)(1) A petition for acknowledgment under this subsec 7 tion must contain information sufficient to establish that the 8 petitioner satisfies each of the following criteria: 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 (A) Not less than 85 percent of the current members of the petitioner are descendants of members of the historical Indian tribe with respect to which the petitioner bases its claim for acknowledgment. Official rolls constitute conclusive proof of ancestry. Other proof of ancestry includes (i) Federal, State, and other government records, (ii) church and school records, and (iii) affidavits prepared by tribal elders or the governing body of the Indian tribe. (B) The membership of the petitioner is composed principally of persons who are not enrolled members of any other Indian tribe. (C) The petitioner (i) was a party to a treaty or a successor in interest to a party to a treaty (including any 16 Indian groups found to be such a successor by the Claims Court), (ii) was identified in an Act or resolution of the Congress, or of the Continental Congress, in such a way as to establish or acknowledge a gov ernment-to-government relationship, (iii) was the beneficiary of (I) an Executive Order setting aside land as an Indian reservation, (II) any other land or property held in trust by the United States for petitioner or for the members of the petitioner, or (III) any land or property subject to restrictions on alienation imposed by Federal law on the lands or property of Indians or Indian tribes, (iv) was terminated as an Indian tribe by a Federal statute, (v) was organized under the Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984; 25 U.S.C. 461, et seq.) through the adoption of a constitution and bylaws pursuant to section 16 of such Act that were rati fied and approved by the Secretary, |