- City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y.
-
City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y.
Supreme Court of the United StatesArgued January 11, 2005
Decided March 29, 2005Full case name City of Sherrill, New York v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York, et. al. Citations 544 U.S. 197 (more)
125 S. Ct. 1478, 161 L. Ed. 2d 386Prior history Oneida Indian Nation v. City of Sherrill, 337 F.3d 139 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2003) Subsequent history Rehearing denied, 544 U.S. 1057 (2005), on remand sub nom. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. v. Madison Cnty., 401 F. Supp. 2d 219 (N.D.N.Y. 2005), motion to amend denied, 235 F.R.D. 559 (N.D.N.Y. 2006), aff'd, 605 F.3d 149 (2nd Cir. 2010), cert. granted, 131 S. Ct. 459 (2010), vacated and remanded sub nom. Madison Cnty. v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y., 131 S. Ct. 704 (2011) (per curiam) Holding Reversed and remanded. Held that repurchase of traditional tribal lands did not restore tribal sovereignty to that land. Court membership Chief Justice
William RehnquistAssociate Justices
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen BreyerCase opinions Majority J. Ginsburg, joined by C.J. Rehnquist, J. O'Connor, J. Scalia, J. Kennedy, J. Souter, J. Thomas, and J. Breyer Concurrence J. Souter Dissent J. Stevens Laws applied 25 U.S.C. 465 City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y., 544 U.S. 197 (2005), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that repurchase of traditional tribal lands did not restore tribal sovereignty to that land.[1]
Contents
Background
Historical tribal background
The Oneida Indian Nation originally lived on about 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km2) in central New York. In 1788, the State of New York and the tribe entered into a treaty where the tribe ceded all but 300,000 acres (1,200 km2) to the state and kept the 300,000 as their reservation. Two years later, the United States Congress passed the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act, prohibiting the sale of tribal lands without the permission of the Federal government.[1]
In violation of that and subsequent laws to protect the tribes, the State of New York continued to purchase tribal land and remove tribes to western lands, such as the part of the Oneida people that became the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. By 1920, the tribe had only 32 acres (130,000 m2).[1]
In 1997 and 1998, the tribe purchased land on the open market that had been part of the original reservation. The City of Sherrill sought to impose property taxes on the land, and the tribe maintained that they were tax-exempt tribal lands.[1]
Lower courts
The Oneida Nation sought equitable relief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York and the trial court enjoined the City of Sherrill and Madison County, New York from taxing the tribal property.[2][3] Both the city and the county then appealed the decision to the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court affirmed and the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.[1][4]
Opinion of the Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the court, reversing and remanding.[1]
Without overturning the Second Circuit's finding that the lands qualified as Indian Territory, Justice Ginsburg held that the mere purchase of the land did not revive the tribal sovereignty over the land. Because there was a period of about 200 years where the tribe had not sought to regain title, the Court opined that it was too long out of Oneida Nation control to reassert their tribal immunity over those lands as an automatic mechanism. In addition, since non-Indians now lived on the land, it would pose problems for those people. Justice Ginsburg concluded that the proper way for the Oneida Nation to reassert its immunity over those re-acquired lands was to place the land in US trust through the Indian Reogranization Act. Justice Ginsburg reasoned that the mechanisms behind the IRA would address issues of checker-board jurisdictions and other pertinent issues.[1]
Concurring opinion
Justice David Souter issued a concurring opinion stating that the amount of time involved barred the tribe from restoring sovereignty to the land in question.[1]
Dissent
Justice John P. Stevens dissented, stating that the land within the boundaries of its historical reservation was "Indian Country" and the city had no jurisdiction to tax that property.[1]
Subsequent history
Sherrill only held that the local governments could tax OIN-owned property that was part of the original reservation but reacquired on the open market, not that the local governments could collect. In 2010, the Second Circuit held that tribal sovereign immunity barred a tax foreclosure suit against the tribe for unpaid taxes.[5] As urged by concurring judges José A. Cabranes and Peter W. Hall, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.[6] Following a tribal declaration and ordinance waiving sovereign immunity, the Court vacated and remanded.[7]
See also
- Oneida Indian Nation of New York State v. Oneida County. (1974)
- Oneida County. v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York State (1985)
- Cayuga Indian Nation of N.Y. v. Pataki (2d Cir. 2005)
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation, 544 U.S. 197 (2005)
- ^ Oneida Indian Nation, et. al. v. City of Sherrill, et. al., 145 F.Supp.2d 226 (N.D.N.Y. 2001).
- ^ Oneida Indian Nation v. Madison County, 145 F.Supp.2d 268 (N.D.N.Y. 2001).
- ^ Oneida Indian Nation, et. al. v. City of Sherrill, et. al., 337 F.3d 139 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2003).
- ^ Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. Madison County, Oneida County, N.Y., 605 F.3d 149 (2d Cir. 2010).
- ^ Madison County v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York, 131 S. Ct. 459 (2010).
- ^ 131 S. Ct. 704 (mem).
References
- Derrick Braaten, The Right To Be Heard In City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation: Equity and the Sound of Silence, 25 Law & Inequality 227 (2007).
- Matthew L.M. Fletcher, The Supreme Court’s Indian Problem, 59 Hastings L.J. 579 (2007).
- Kathryn E. Fort, The New Laches: Creating Title Where None Existed, 16 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 357 (2009)
- Kathryn E. Fort, Disruption and Impossibility: The Unfortunate Resolution of the Iroquois Land Claims in Federal Courts (Mich. State Univ. Law Sch. Res. Paper No. 09-03, 2011).
- Sarah Krakoff, City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York: A Regretful Postscript to the Taxation Chapter in Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, 41 Tulsa L. Rev. 5 (2005).
- George C. Shattuck, The Oneida Land Claims: A Legal History (1991).
- Patrick W. Wandres, Indian Land Claims, Sherrill and the Impending Legacy of the Doctrine of Laches, 31 Am. Indian L. Rev. 131 (2006).
External links
Oneida people Groups
Oneida Indian Nation · Oneida Nation of Wisconsin · Oneida Nation of the ThamesHistory and Culture
Oneida language · Iroquois Confederacy · Treaty of CanandaiguaLitigation
Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. State v. Oneida Cnty. (1974) · Oneida Cnty. v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. State (1985) · City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. (2005)Aboriginal title in the United States Statutes Colonial era: Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions (1629; New Netherland) Royal Proclamation of 1763 (British North America) · Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783 · Northwest Ordinance (1787) · Nonintercourse Act (1790, 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1834) · Removal Act (1830) · Dawes Act (1887) · Curtis Act of 1898 · Reorganization Act (1934) · Indian Claims Commission Act (1946) · Indian Land Claims Settlements (1978—2006) · Indian Claims Limitations Act (1982)Precedents Marshall Court: Johnson v. M'Intosh (1823); Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) · Taney Court: Fellows v. Blacksmith (1857); New York ex rel. Cutler v. Dibble (1858) · Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy (1896) · United States v. Santa Fe Pac. R.R. (1941) · Warren Court: Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States (1955); Fed. Power Comm'n v. Tuscarora Indian Nation (1960) · Burger Court: Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. State v. Oneida Cnty. (1974); Oneida Cnty. v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. State (1985); South Carolina v. Catawba Indian Tribe (1986) · Rehnquist Court: Idaho v. Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Idaho (1997); Idaho v. United States (2001); City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. (2005)By state Alaska · California · Hawaii · Indiana · Louisiana · Maine · New Mexico · New York · Rhode Island · VermontCompare Categories:- 2005 in United States case law
- United States Supreme Court cases
- Native American tribes in Oklahoma
- Aboriginal title case law in the United States
- Tribal sovereign immunity
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.