2.10.50 The Appellate Court.
In any appeal from the decision of a trial Judge, whether Senior or Associate, a litigant may choose to appeal her/his case to the Appellate Court. The Appellate Panel shall consist of three Justices, two Justices previously appointed to the Tribal Court of original jurisdiction and a duly qualified justice from another recognized tribal court in the United States. The Senior Judge shall designate the Justices to serve on the Appellate Panel. If any of the Justices cannot serve for any reason, including disqualification pursuant to ATC 2.10.10(h) and (i), additional temporary Associate Justices may be appointed by the Tribal Council or a visiting judge may be invited to form the three-Judge Appellate Panel. A litigant shall have the right to file an affidavit of conflict of interest against Justices on an Appellate Panel. Such Justices of an Appellate Panel so constituted may only be removed from the Appellate Panel prior to completion of assigned matters by the Tribal Council pursuant to provisions of this code for the removal of a Judge of the Tribal Court by Tribal Council action.
(a) Limitations on Appeal. The Appellate Court shall not retry a case on appeal. The Appellate Court will only review the case records from the original court to determine by majority vote if there was a grave procedural error or if there is evidence of grave unfairness in some way by the original court. After a review of the case records, the Appellate Court may refuse to hear the case if there is insufficient evidence of a grave procedural error or a grave unfairness; or the Appellate Court may order a hearing to determine if a grave procedural error or grave unfairness occurred. If the Appellate Court decides to hear the appeal, the Appellate Court may:
(1) Affirm the decision of the original Tribal Court;
(2) Reverse and remand the original Tribal Court decision (send the case back to the Tribal Court with guidelines for a rehearing); or
(3) Reverse and dismiss the original Tribal Court case if the Appellate Court determines that the original Tribal Court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case in the first place or determines that the original Tribal Court made a grave error in its procedure.
(b) Costs of an Appeal. All costs of the Appellate Court and staff to hear an appeal shall be borne by the appealing party. A waiver of these costs is solely at the discretion of the majority of the Appellate Court Panel. [2008 Code § 2.2.5; Res. 1999-17]