City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York

What happened

At the birth of the United States, the Oneida Nation's homeland covered some six million acres of what is now central New York. In 1788 the Oneidas ceded all their lands to the State but kept a reservation of about 300,000 acres. In the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua the United States "acknowledge[d]" that reservation. New York kept buying Oneida land anyway, and by 1920 the Oneidas retained only 32 acres in the State.

In 1997 and 1998 the Oneida Indian Nation of New York bought parcels in the city of Sherrill, within the old reservation, and claimed they were free of local property tax. The Nation argued that buying the land back revived its ancient sovereignty over each parcel. The lower courts held the parcels were not taxable.

The Supreme Court reversed. It looked at the area's long non-Indian character, 200 years of regulation by the State and its counties and towns, and the Oneidas' long delay in seeking relief against anyone but the United States. It held that federal Indian law and equity "preclude the Tribe from unilaterally reviving its ancient sovereignty." The opinion said the Oneidas "long ago relinquished governmental reins" and cannot regain them through open-market purchases.

The Court also pointed to another route: 25 U.S.C. section 465, under which the Secretary of the Interior may acquire land in trust for Indians, and land taken into trust is exempt from state and local taxation.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error