Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill issued an executive order on Thursday, pausing the issuance of new citizenship cards in the wake of a tribal court’s ruling requiring the nation to grant citizenship to the descendants of Freedmen.

The Muscogee Nation Supreme Court issued the historic ruling last month. The justices rejected the tribe’s “by blood” language for citizenship requirements, which is noted in the tribal nation’s 1979 constitution. The court cited the Treaty of 1866, which ensured those who were enslaved by Muscogees should “enjoy all the rights and privileges of Native citizens.”

The ruling has been praised by descendants of Freedmen, who have been fighting for citizenship for years. However, tribal leaders said the ruling “does not appear to provide the clarity our Nation needed.”

In response, Hill issued the executive order. He argues that the Supreme Court overstepped its authority by rejecting the tribe’s “by blood” language in its Constitution. He wrote that the Tribal Council must approve new laws and potentially amend the Constitution – with the help of a citizen vote – to remove the specified language. Therefore, he’s pausing citizenship.

“My responsibility as Principal Chief is to preserve stability and ensure we move forward in a careful and lawful way,” Hill said in a statement. “Even when another branch oversteps, it is my duty to keep our government steady, to avoid disruption, and to protect the integrity of our Nation’s institutions.”

The tribe’s citizenship office is directed to continue accepting applications from Freedmen applicants. However, they are not to issue any membership cards to them “until our laws and policies are updated to reflect the Court’s ruling and to ensure that the processing of all applications will be completed in a fair, objective, and timely manner,” Hill wrote in a statement.

Muscogee Nation citizen and Freedman descendant Eli Grayson called Hill’s executive order “hypocritical.”

“You’re telling Governor (Kevin) Stitt to respect the rights of the reservations and all the… criminal aspects of McGirt and all that stuff,” Grayson said in reference to recent arguments about tribal sovereignty surrounding the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision. “But then when your own Supreme Court rules on something that you don’t like because of your own racial feelings, then you know, you’re a hypocrite.”

He said the Muscogee Nation granting citizenship to the Freedmen is overdue, pointing to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which granted citizenship to people who were formerly enslaved in the country.

“Why shouldn’t we?” He said. “We’re in the same situation.”