Representatives version of the bill would have denied funds unless the Freedmen descendants were restored to citizenship. The Senate version of the bill had no mention of the Cherokee Nation or the Cherokee Freedmen descendants. Paul Lumley, executive director of the National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC), said that the NAIHC worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to create a compromise, resulting in the addition of the Cherokee Freedmen stipulation in the bill.<ref>{{cite web|last=Vowel |first=Chelsea |url=http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/31166554.html |title=Reynolds, Jerry. "Reauthorized housing bill comes with advantages, some defeats", 'Indian Country Today, October 17, 2008 (Accessible as of Oct 28, 2008 |publisher=Indiancountrytoday.com |access-date=2012-12-19}}</ref> Federal court proceedings Marilyn Vann and four Freedmen descendants filed a case with the United States Federal Court over the Cherokee Nation's disfranchisement of the Freedmen descendants. Efforts have been made by the Cherokee Nation to dismiss the federal case. On December 19, 2006, Federal Judge Henry Kennedy ruled that the Freedmen descendants could sue the Cherokee Nation for disfranchisement. The Cherokee Nation's administration appealed the decision on the grounds that as a sovereign nation, the tribe is protected by sovereign immunity and cannot be sued in US court. On July 29, 2008, the Washington D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals unanimously ruled that the Cherokee Nation was protected by sovereign immunity and could not be listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. But, it stated that the Cherokee Nation's officials were not protected by the tribe's sovereign immunity, and Freedmen descendants could proceed with a lawsuit against the tribe's officers. The ruling also stated the 13th Amendment and the Treaty of 1866 whittled away the Cherokee right to discriminate against the Freedmen descendants. The ruling means that the case will go back to district court. Velie stated this was a great victory for the Freedmen and Indian people who can bring actions against the elected officials of their Native Nations and the United States. In February 2009, the Cherokee Nation filed a separate Federal lawsuit against individual Freedmen in what some called an attempt at "venue shopping". The case was sent back to Washington to join the Vann case. "On July 2, the Honorable Judge Terrance Kern of the Oklahoma Northern District Court transferred the Cherokee Nation v. Raymond Nash et al case that was filed in his court in February 2009 to D.C. Already awaiting judgment in D.C. is the case of Marilyn Vann et al v.