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Full-Text Articles in Law
"Power Over This Unfortunate Race," Race, Power And Indian Law In U.S. V. Rogers, Bethany Berger
"Power Over This Unfortunate Race," Race, Power And Indian Law In U.S. V. Rogers, Bethany Berger
Faculty Articles and Papers
In 1846, the Supreme Court held in United States v. Rogers that a white man who had become a citizen of the Cherokee Nation through marriage was not an Indian for purposes of federal criminal jurisdiction. This article examines the extensive fabrications of law and fact that underlie the decision, and its part in a campaign by the executive branch to increase federal power over Indian people. The campaign involved the Attorney General of the United States arguing before the Supreme Court for the right to prosecute a man that had died ten months earlier. More profoundly, the campaign was …