Hugo Black

“ The record does not leave the impression that the lands of their reservation are the most fertile, the landscape the most beautiful or their homes the most splendid specimens of architecture. But this is their home-their ancestral home. There, they, their children, and their forebears were born. They, too, have their memories and their loves. Some things are worth more than money and the costs of a new enterprise.
There may be instances in which Congress has broken faith with the Indians, although examples of such action have not been pointed out to us. ”

“ But the case is now entirely altered; the General Government, only, has the power to treat with the Indian nations, and any treaty formed, and held without its authority, will not be binding. 'Here, then, is the security for the remainder of your lands. No State, nor person, can purchase your lands, unless at some public treaty, held under the authority of the United States. ”

“ This very principle of interpretation was applied in the case of The New York Indians, 5 Wall. 761, 768, 18 L.Ed. 708, where the Court said, about this treaty:
'It has already been shown that the United States have acknowledged the reservations to be the property of the Seneca nation-that they will never claim them nor disturb this nation in their free use and enjoyment, and that they shall remain theirs until they choose to sell them. ”

“ Congress has been consistent in generally exercising this power to take Indian lands only in accord with prior treaties, only when the Indians themselves consent to be moved, and only by Acts which either specifically refer to Indians or by their terms must include Indian lands. ”

“ The fact that Indians are sometimes taxed like other citizens does not even remotely indicate that Congress has weakened in any way its policy to preserve 'tribal lands embraced within Indian reservations.' Moreover, cases dealing with individuals who are not Indians are not applicable to tribal reservations. ”

“ We are told that many tribes own their reservation lands. The well-known Pueblos of New Mexico own some 700,000 acres of land in fee. All such reservation lands are put in jeopardy by the Court's strained interpretation. The Court suggests no plausible reason, or any reason at all for that matter, why Congress should or would have sought artificially to place those Indians who hold legal title to their reservation lands in such a less-favored position. ”

“ Ex parte Crow Dog. 109 U.S. 556, 572, 3 S.Ct. 396, 406, 27 L.Ed. 1030; United States v. Rogers, 4 How. 567, 572, 11 L.Ed. 1105.↑ The origins of this policy extend into pre-Colonial British history. As Chief Justice Marshall said in Worcester v. ”