DeCoteau v. District County Court

What happened

The Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota was created by an 1867 treaty between the United States and the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Sioux Indians. Its 1867 boundaries enclose approximately 918,000 acres. At the time of the case about 3,000 tribal members and 30,000 non-Indians lived within them.

In 1889 the tribe and the United States negotiated an agreement. Congress ratified it in an 1891 Act that opened all unallotted lands to settlement. The Act also appropriated and vested in the tribe a sum certain per acre as payment for the express cession and relinquishment of "all" of the tribe's "claim, right, title, and interest" in the unallotted lands.

Two consolidated cases raised one question: was the reservation terminated? One began when Cheryl Decoteau, a tribal member whose child was separated from her through neglect and dependency proceedings in a South Dakota county court, sought a writ of habeas corpus, arguing the state court lacked jurisdiction. The other, Erickson v. United States ex rel. Feather, came from the Eighth Circuit.

The Supreme Court held 6-3 that the 1891 Act terminated the reservation and returned the unallotted lands to the public domain. The Court said the face of the Act, its surrounding circumstances and its legislative history "all point unmistakably" to this conclusion. South Dakota state courts therefore had civil and criminal jurisdiction over tribal members on the non-Indian, unallotted lands. Justice Douglas dissented, joined by Justices Brennan and Marshall.

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