Cayuga Indian Nation of New York v. Pataki

What happened

In a 1789 treaty with New York, the Cayugas ceded all their lands to the State except an "Original Reservation" on the shores of the northern end of Cayuga Lake. In the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, the United States acknowledged that reservation and promised the land would remain theirs until they chose to sell it. This case involves 64,015 acres of it. The Second Circuit says New York later acquired the land through "treaties" in 1795 and 1807 that the federal government never explicitly ratified. In 1807, for example, the State purchased the Cayugas' remaining three-square-mile parcel for $4,800.

On November 19, 1980, the Cayuga Nation filed suit, later joined by the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma. They argued the transfers violated the federal Nonintercourse Act, which, the Supreme Court has said, "bars sales of tribal land without the acquiescence of the Federal Government." Defendants included New York State, two counties and a class of landowners. The Northern District of New York agreed on liability and awarded about $248 million in damages and prejudgment interest.

Then the Supreme Court decided City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation in 2005. It ruled that equitable doctrines such as laches, acquiescence and impossibility can be applied to Indian land claims in appropriate circumstances. The Second Circuit read that to include possessory land claims like this one. It held the claim barred by laches and reversed. Judge Hall dissented in part and concurred in part.

The court began by noting the wrongs alleged "occurred over two hundred years ago, and this action is itself twenty-five years old."

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error