Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation

What happened

The Tuscarora Indian Nation owned land in fee simple near the Niagara River at Lewiston, New York. The opinion traces how: the Tuscaroras, with help from Presidents Washington and Jefferson and Congress, sold their North Carolina lands through the Secretary of War for $15,000. That money bought additional land next to tracts the Nation had received earlier. In 1804 the Nation bought 4,329 acres from the Holland Land Company, with the assistance of Secretary of War Henry Dearborn, and the Nation has owned those lands since the conveyance of January 2, 1809.

In 1957 Congress, by Public Law 85-159, directed the Federal Power Commission to license the Power Authority of the State of New York to build a hydroelectric project. The project's storage reservoir would take part of those Tuscarora lands. The Nation argued that the land lay within a federal "reservation," that a treaty protected it, and that 25 U.S.C. section 177, which forbids transfers of Indian land except by treaty or convention, barred the taking.

The Supreme Court disagreed on each point. Because the Nation owned the land in fee simple and no interest in it was owned by the United States, it was not within a "reservation" under the Federal Power Act. By the Act's broad terms, the Commission's licensees may take "lands owned by Indians, as well as those of all other citizens," on payment of just compensation. The lands were not subject to any treaty with the United States, and section 177 does not apply to the United States itself or its licensees. Justice Black dissented, joined by the Chief Justice and Justice Douglas.

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