Three ranking chiefly members of American Samoa's Ta'u County Supreme Council have filed suit in the High Court challenging the constitutionality of the process under which its senator, Fa'amausili Pola, was elected.
The suit charges that the three plaintiffs were wrongfully deprived of their right, as Council members, to participate in the election of the district's senator.
Instead, the suit says, a small group of Ta'u chiefs held a meeting outside the county boundaries at which Fa'amausili was elected.
The plaintiffs say under those circumstances, the election was invalid because it was not conducted in accordance with due process and Samoan custom, as required under the territory's constitution.
