United States v. Dann

What happened

In 1951 the Shoshone Tribe asked the Indian Claims Commission for compensation for the loss of aboriginal title to lands in several Western states. The Commission held that the title had been extinguished and later awarded $26 million. The Court of Claims affirmed.

The award was certified, and under a federal statute that certification automatically appropriated the amount. The money was deposited for the Tribe in an interest-bearing trust account in the United States Treasury. The Secretary of the Interior is required to submit to Congress a plan for distributing the fund, after consulting with the Tribe. The Secretary had not done so, because of the Tribe's refusal to cooperate.

The United States later brought a trespass action against members of the Tribe for grazing livestock without a permit on land involved in the earlier proceeding. They claimed aboriginal title to the land, so the government could not require grazing permits. The district court held that the title had been extinguished when the Commission's final award was certified for payment. The Ninth Circuit reversed.

On February 20, 1985, Justice Brennan wrote for a unanimous Court that "payment" under the Indian Claims Commission Act occurred when the funds "were placed by the United States into an account in the Treasury for the Tribe." Waiting for Congress to approve a distribution plan would frustrate the Act's purpose of disposing of Indian claims with finality. The Court reversed and remanded.

Good to know. The opinion calls the claimants the Shoshone Tribe; it does not say 'Western Shoshone.'

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