Council of the Tlingit and Haida peoples in Alaska voted in February 2015 to legalize same-sex marriage on their sovereign lands. The Council will also be responsible for any related divorces that may arise. Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation has recognized same-sex marriages since December 9, 2016, overturning a ban established in 2004. On May 13, 2004, a lesbian couple applied for a marriage license and were approved by a Cherokee Nation tribal court deputy clerk. On May 14, 2004, Judicial Appeals Tribunal Chief Justice Darrell Dowty issued a moratorium on issuing additional same-sex marriage licenses. On May 18, 2004, the couple were married in Tulsa, but their request to register their certificate of marriage was refused. On June 11, 2004, the Tribal Council's attorney, as a private party, filed an objection to the issuance of the application and on June 16 filed an injunction to nullify the marriage. On June 14, the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council passed a law banning same-sex marriages. The couple filed a motion for a decision in November 2004. On December 10, their motions to dismiss, quash and for summary judgment were denied by the Cherokee District Court and they appealed to the Judicial Appeals Tribunal of the Cherokee Nation (JAT) on December 17. In June 2005, the JAT set a trial date of August 2 to determine the standing of the Tribal Council attorney to file as a private individual. On August 3, 2005, the JAT ruled that no individual suffered harm from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage and the plaintiff therefore lacked standing. The following day, 15 tribal councilors filed a petition to prevent the couple from filing their marriage certificate with the tribe. On December 22, the JAT dismissed the injunction again citing the inability of council members to demonstrate that they suffered harm as individuals from the recording of the marriage. On January 6, 2006, the Cherokee Nation Court Administrator filed a petition stating that recording the marriage certificate would violate the tribal law defining marriage as that of a man and a woman. On March 8, the couple filed a motion to dismiss the third challenge as their marriage had occurred prior to the enactment of the law defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. Though Oklahoma's same-sex marriage ban was overturned on January 14, 2014, in a ruling by U.S. District Judge Terence Kern,