Matter of Heff

Background

A man was prosecuted in federal court for selling liquor to John Butler, an Indian who had received an allotment and patent of land under the 1887 allotment law. The seller argued that Butler, having become an allottee with a patent, was a citizen of the United States and of Kansas and therefore subject to Kansas law rather than to a federal police statute passed in 1897. The case asked whether the federal statute could reach sales made inside a State to an Indian who had been given allotments and declared a citizen by Congress.

Reasoning

The Court reviewed the history of federal Indian policy and the 1887 law’s wording. It concluded that Congress had intended allotments to carry citizenship and subject Indians who received allotments to state civil and criminal laws. Once the Government grants those privileges of citizenship, the Court held, Congress cannot thereafter use federal police statutes to punish the same conduct within the State’s domain. Because the 1897 act was a police regulation, not a revenue measure, it could not validly apply to a sale inside Kansas to an Indian who was a state citizen.

Real world impact

The ruling means the federal court lacked jurisdiction to convict the seller under the 1897 law, and the seller was entitled to discharge. Practically, Indians who receive allotments and the associated citizenship protections are governed by state criminal law for matters like liquor sales. The decision limits later federal police interventions against such persons.

Dissents or concurrances

A single Justice dissented. The dissent is noted but not detailed in the opinion, and it did not change the Court’s holding.