Judge denies Nygren request to halt housing contract hearings

DÁ’DEESTŁ’IN HÓTSAA

A Navajo Nation judge denied President Buu Nygren’s request to block the Budget and Finance Committee’s housing contract investigation, allowing subpoena hearings tied to housing contracts and related matters to continue.

Window Rock District Court Judge Malcolm Begay signed matching orders Friday in two cases filed by Speaker Crystalyne Curley against Nygren, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the Controller.

Begay denied Nygren’s request for a temporary restraining order, his request to stop enforcement or implementation of the Special Prosecutor Amendment Act of 2010 and his motion to stay or quash subpoenas issued by the committee.

The decision keeps the committee’s hearings in place as delegates examine whether Navajo Nation housing contracts and related matters complied with Navajo Nation laws, regulations, rules and policies. The committee began the hearings June 8 after adopting rules for the proceedings on May 13.

Begay wrote that the committee is conducting the investigation under its authority to prepare a written report to the Navajo Nation Council. The order cites Navajo law stating that the Budget and Finance Committee is responsible for oversight of the Nation’s budget, finance, investment, contracting, accounting and audit activities, and that standing committees may subpoena information from Executive Branch departments when needed to carry out committee duties.

Nygren asked the court to stop the committee hearings while challenging the 2010 law that allowed a special prosecutor to be appointed. The dispute came as the committee continued hearings into housing contracts, including matters involving American Rescue Plan Fiscal Recovery Funds.

The Ethics and Rules Committee submitted a memorandum in 2025 requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate possible violations involving those funds, according to Begay’s order. A special prosecutor was appointed under the 2010 law after the Navajo Nation Department of Justice and attorney general declined to provide funding.

Begay wrote that the Office of Legislative Counsel oversees the special prosecutor’s contract formation and payments.

Nygren argued the investigation could not proceed under what he described as an invalid statute. His filing asserted the special prosecutor appointment was void under Shirley v. Morgan, a Navajo Nation Supreme Court case that addressed emergency legislation and public record requirements. The filing also asserted the committee investigation was politically motivated before the July 2026 primary election.

Curley’s legal counsel moved to dismiss the motion to stay, arguing the court had no subject matter jurisdiction to stop a standing committee’s ongoing proceeding because courts do not have authority to supervise, direct or control legislative functions. The Office of Legislative Counsel and the special prosecutor also stipulated that BFC’s investigations would go forward while the special prosecutor’s investigation remained pending, according to Begay’s order.

Begay found that the court lacked authority to manage the committee proceedings or quash its subpoenas. He wrote that those powers are vested with the committee and that the request to stay or quash the subpoenas was not properly before the court without legal authority from the Council.

Begay also declined to invalidate the Special Prosecutor Amendment Act of 2010. He wrote that the record in the case differed from Shirley v. Morgan because there is a public record supporting special prosecutor referrals when conflict of interest concerns arises.

Those concerns include situations in which Executive Branch personnel would investigate the Executive Branch for possible housing contract violations or when there are allegations that a Navajo Nation president violated Navajo Nation laws, according to Begay’s order.

“When this standard is not met, with no investigation being conducted on the Executive Branch itself, the chief legislative officer does have to provide a referral for a special prosecutor to be appointed, given that the attorney general declined to fund the special prosecutor,” Begay wrote.

Begay wrote that he would not invalidate the 2010 law because it protects the Navajo Nation’s financial sovereignty from possible violations of housing contract laws within the Executive Branch.

Nygren’s counterclaim argued that the Legislative Branch was gaining too much authority through the special prosecutor process. Begay disagreed, writing that unchecked Executive Branch authority to investigate and prosecute alleged wrongdoing within its own branch would concentrate power without balance between the branches.

Begay wrote that none of the temporarily appointed attorneys general or the Navajo Nation Department of Justice had investigated housing contract corruption allegations in the last four years. He also wrote that the attorney general declined to pay for a special prosecutor.

The Department of Justice is advising Executive Branch personnel not to testify before the committee and the proceedings have faced multiple delays for nearly a year, according to Begay’s order.

“Under these circumstances, the Navajo Nation President is clearly refusing to address allegations of public funds, being converted for private parties, under current housing contracts with the Navajo Nation,” Begay wrote.

Begay also addressed political arguments raised in the case, writing that the special prosecutor process has been used sparingly during the past 15 years and has not been widely abused for political gain.

“Both parties are using press releases on this court’s orders for political gains among the public,” Begay wrote. “To suppress or punish one party, over the other, is restrictive on the public’s right to be aware of its government and suppresses speech.”

Begay denied Nygren’s request after finding that the counterclaim failed to state a claim and that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the motion to stay or quash the committee’s subpoenas.

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