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Cherokee Nation V. Hitchcock, United States Supreme Court

US Government Documents related to Indigenous Nations

This United States (US) Supreme Court case, submitted October 23, 1902 and decided December 1, 1902, held that the US Congress has the right to pass legislation that controls the actions and/or property of tribes in the United States without tribal consent. This case began when the Cherokee Nation attempted to stop the Secretary of the Interior from leasing their land for oil extraction. The Cherokee Nation asserted that an 1835 treaty granted them the right to their lands and to self-government. In their decision on this appeal, the Court asserts that the June 28, 1898 act of the US …