Blackfeather v. United States

Background

A group of individual members of the Shawnee (and related Delaware) Indians sued in the Court of Claims seeking money or property recovery tied to treaty-era relations and agreements with the Cherokee Nation and the United States. The litigation relied on two laws passed by Congress in 1890 and 1892 that referred certain Shawnee and Delaware claims to the Court of Claims. The lower court decided against the individual claimants, and the Supreme Court reviewed whether those statutes let individuals, rather than tribes, bring these claims.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the 1890 and 1892 acts allowed individual Indians to sue in the Court of Claims or whether they spoke only to claims belonging to a tribe or band. The Court examined the language of the statutes and related treaty and agreement provisions and concluded the statutes referred to the Shawnee and Delaware as tribes or bands, not to individual members. The Court noted sections that authorized suits in the name of tribal chiefs or for tribal reimbursement and that the 1892 act explicitly treated the claims as those of the tribe or band. Because these statutes extend the Government’s waiver of immunity, they must be construed strictly and do not authorize the individual claims in this case. The Court affirmed the judgment below.

Real world impact

Under this decision, individuals who say they were wronged cannot use the 1890 or 1892 statutes to pursue money in the Court of Claims; only tribal or band claims qualify. If Congress wants individual Indians to recover under federal law, it must say so explicitly. The ruling points out that when Congress intends to include individuals it uses different language, such as “certain members.”