Talton v. Mayes

What happened

Talton was convicted of murder in a special Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation, in Cooweeskoowee District, and sentenced to be hanged on February 28, 1893. He was held in the national jail at Tahlequah, Indian Territory, by the Cherokee Nation's high sheriff.

In February 1893 he filed a petition for habeas corpus in the federal court for the Western District of Arkansas. He argued that his indictment was void because it was returned by a body of five grand jurors. That was too few, he said, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, and under the laws of the Cherokee Nation. He said he was deprived of liberty without due process of law.

On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court affirmed the denial of relief. Justice White wrote that murder committed by one Cherokee upon another within the Cherokee Nation's jurisdiction is "not an offence against the United States, but an offence against the local laws of the Cherokee nation." The Fifth Amendment "does not apply to local legislation of the Cherokee nation."

The Court explained that "as the powers of local self government enjoyed by the Cherokee nation existed prior to the Constitution, they are not operated upon by the Fifth Amendment." It also said that whether an earlier Cherokee law had been repealed was a question solely for the courts of that nation. Justice Harlan dissented.

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