TROs Halt Council's Controller Appointment, Removal Efforts Against Navajo President

Temporary restraining orders issued in the Window Rock District Court across late 2025 and Feb. 24, 2026 have halted competing moves by the Navajo Nation President’s Office and the 25th Navajo Nation Council, leaving Controller Sean McCabe’s authority intact and blocking Council removal efforts against President Buu Van Nygren. The orders name Judge Malcolm Begay and multiple Council and executive parties and preserve the status quo while the court schedules preliminary injunction hearings.

On Oct. 17, 2025 Judge Malcolm Begay signed a TRO that enjoined President Buu Nygren from terminating Controller Sean McCabe and from installing an acting controller without consent from the Budget and Finance Committee. The Oct. 17 order also restricted the Office of the Controller from taking actions under the authority of Alva R. Tom unless those actions were ratified and confirmed by McCabe, and it preserved the status quo until a preliminary injunction hearing set for Oct. 27, 2025.

Speaker Crystalyne Curley and Council offices framed the Oct. 17 order as a rebuke to the President’s actions. Speaker Curley said, "The Court’s granting of the TRO is a strong indication that President Nygren broke the law and that the Navajo Nation Department of Justice was wrong in advising OPVP in the wrongful termination. The Council maintains that McCabe is the lawful Controller." The Council’s position centers on a statutory requirement that the Budget and Finance Committee consent to any appointment of an Acting Controller.

In a separate filing, President Nygren sought a TRO on Nov. 24, 2025 to block Council legislation aimed at removing him and Vice President Richelle Montoya. The court granted that motion the next day, Nov. 25, 2025, and temporarily enjoined Speaker Curley and the Navajo Nation Council from enacting the removal measures. President Nygren said, "Any attempt to unlawfully remove a President is not just a political maneuver, it is an attack on the will of the People and on the sanctity of our democratic system and our people’s votes."

OPVP also reported that the court’s written summary included a "Legal Conclusion of Law" that Speaker Curley’s attempt "pose[s] the potential to obliterate the separation of powers within the Navajo Nation Government, causing government instability, concentration in one branch of government, and may cause irreparable harm without adequate remedies at law." Native committee action was affected as well; the Naabik’íyáti Committee was blocked from considering Legislation No. 0263-25, which alleges malfeasance, misfeasance and breaches of fiduciary trust duties by the administration, and a hearing on that matter was preserved for at least Dec. 8, 2025.

A Feb. 24, 2026 Window Rock order at President Nygren’s request further prevented the Navajo Nation Council from enacting or enforcing two measures identified as CJA-07-26 and CJA-09-26, again preserving the status quo while a preliminary injunction process moves forward. The sequence of Oct. 17, Nov. 25, Dec. 8 and Feb. 24 filings demonstrates overlapping litigation: one case challenges the Controller appointment of Alva R. Tom, another blocks Council removal proceedings tied to Legislation No. 0263-25, and the Feb. 24 order specifically references CJA-07-26 and CJA-09-26. The Window Rock District Court’s upcoming preliminary injunction rulings will decide whether Sean McCabe remains the lawful Controller and whether the Council may proceed with the contested removal and executive-authority measures.