Court Jurisdiction in Indian Country

Item set

• Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834
  This final version of the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act established a boundary line for "Indian Country" West of the Mississippi River, outside of Missouri, Louisiana, and Arkansas, while reaffirming requirements on trade in the earlier Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts. Passed after the 1830 Indian Removal Act, this legislation reflects westward expansion and the forceful removal of Native Americans to reservations.
• Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790
  The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 established a license requirement for U.S. citizens to trade with Native Americans, regulations for crimes committed by U.S. citizens in Native people's towns and settlements, and required official treaties with the federal government in order to purchase Native people's land. Crucially, this legislation recognized tribal sovereignty and legal jurisdiction, and had important economic, legal, and political implications in the Early Republic.
• Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1793
  This act renews the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790, and established more specific stipulations for trade between U.S. citizens and Native Americans, loosening restrictions and reaffirming tribal sovereignty and legal jurisdiction.
• Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1796
  The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1796 renewed and modified earlier Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts to establish a boundary line between the United States and "various Indian tribes." The Act prevented U.S. citizens from entering Native land without a passport and from hunting and cattle driving on non-U.S. land. It also renewed previous trade requirements and legal procedures for crime on Native lands.
• In the Matter of the Application of Jacob West for a Writ of Habeas Corpus (1843)
  In this case, Jacob West, a white man who had resided within the Cherokee Nation for thirty years, was charged with the murder of a Cherokee man in a tribal court. West petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in a federal court, claiming immunity from the tribal courts as a white man. The writ was denied by the district court judge, who argued that given West's term of residence within the tribe, he was subject to their jurisdiction: "He has made himself one of them and is to be regarded as an Indian." West was executed by the tribal court.
• United States v. Yellow Sun (1870)
  In this case, a federal court in Nebraska debated the question of federal or state jurisdiction over Native Americans suspected of a crime committed outside a reservation. The court held that there were no treaty rights or congressional provisions that required federal jurisdiction, therefore states had jurisdiction over crimes committed within its boundaries unless on tribal land. The court also held that because crimes committed on tribal lands were not in violation of any federal laws, the state had civil and criminal jurisdiction over tribal lands.
• Ex Parte Crow Dog (1883)
  Ex Parte Crow Dog was a Supreme Court case that asserted the federal government's role in criminal jurisdiction on tribal lands. The Court held that the federal government did not have jurisdiction over crimes committed by Native peoples against one another on tribal land. The Court's decision in this case affirmed tribal sovereignty, leading to the passage of the Indian Major Crimes Act two years later, which brought certain crimes committed on tribal lands under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
• Indian Major Crimes Act (1885)
  The Indian Major Crimes Act brought certain crimes committed on tribal lands under the jurisdiction of the United States federal government, weakening tribal sovereignty.
• United States v. Kagama (1886)
  This Supreme Court case asserted the federal government's role in criminal jurisdiction on tribal lands. The Court ruled that the Indian Major Crimes act was constitutional, therefore federal courts had jurisdiction to indict Native defendants for murder.
• Curtis Act (1898)
  The Curtis Act shows federal land dispossession in Indian Territory through settler colonial judicial and administrative practices. The act dissolved regional tribal courts, voided tribal laws, and reorganized jurisdiction in Indian Territory.
• Indian Civil Rights Act (1968)
  The Indian Civil Rights Act ensured that constitutional rights were extended to Native Americans while also ensuring tribal sovereignty.
• Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978)
  In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that Native American tribes have no jurisdiction over non-Indians. The ruling was later overturned by the Indian Civil Rights Act (1968) and Duro-Fix (1991) that stated tribes had criminal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians. The case of Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (2016) also held that tribes had jurisdiction over non-Indians.
• Duro v. Reina (1990)
  This Supreme Court case looked at Native American tribal jurisdictions. The Court ruled that Native tribes did not have criminal jurisdiction over nonmembers.
• Duro-Fix (1991)
  This amendment to the Indian Civil Rights Act was designed to overturn the Supreme Court's ruling in Duro v. Reina. It reinstated the power of Native American tribes to exercise criminal misdemeanor jurisdiction over all Indians.
• Dollar General Corp. v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (2016)
  After an anonymous boy was sexually assaulted by the manager of a Dollar General on Choctaw land, the boy sued the manager and Dollar General in tribal court, using the precedent set in Montana v. United States (1981) that tribal courts could regulate the activity of non-tribal members who enter into a consensual relationship with the tribe. The Supreme Court was equally divided, so the ruling of the Court of Appeals was held: the tribal court could exercise jurisdiction over Dollar General.
• McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020)
  In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court found that the lands in eastern Oklahoma were under the legal jurisdiction of the tribal nations. This decision reestablished tribal sovereignty for the Five Tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole.