believe the Freedmen descendants only want to share in the tribe's new resources and Cherokee Nation's federally funded programs. Other Cherokee argue the case on the basis of tribal sovereignty, saying that Cherokee Nation members have the sovereign right to determine qualifications for membership. Diane Hammons, former Attorney General for the Cherokee Nation, stated, "We believe that the Cherokee people can change our Constitution, and that the Cherokee citizenry clearly and lawfully enunciated their intentions to do so in the 2007 amendment." Those supporting membership of Freedmen descendants believe they have a rightful place in Cherokee society based on their long history in the tribe before and after forced removal, with a history of intermarriage and active members. In addition, they cite as precedent the legal history, such as the Treaty Of 1866, the 1894 Supreme Court case of Cherokee Nation vs. Journeycake, and the 1975 Cherokee Constitution. Ruth Adair Nash, a Freedmen descendant from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, carries her Cherokee citizenship card, which she was issued in 1975. Some Cherokee by blood have supported full citizenship for Freedmen. David Cornsilk, a founder of the grassroots Cherokee National Party in the 1990s and editor of the independent newspaper The Cherokee Observer, served as lay advocate in the Lucy Allen case. Cornsilk believed that the Cherokee had to honor their obligations as a nation and get beyond identification simply as a racial and ethnic group. He was aware that many of the people are mixed-race, with an increasingly high proportion of European ancestry. He believed they could not exclude the freedmen. He also believed that the nation had to encompass the residents of the area, including freedmen descendants, through its political jurisdiction. This would reduce the racial issues so that the Cherokee acted as a nation and stood "behind its identity as a political entity." Other Cherokee have expressed solidarity with freedmen due to their similarities of religion (Southern Baptist) and the sense of community found among freedmen. Some individual Cherokee and Freedmen have not been aware of the issue. Dr. Circe Sturm, professor, wrote in her book Blood Politics that many Freedmen descendants had little sense of the historic connection with the Cherokee and are ambivalent about getting recognized. Cherokee members have also been ignorant of the historic issues. Cara Cowan Watts, a tribal council member who opposed membership for Freedmen descendants, said in 2007 that she didn't know anything about