Official Lies Before Trump
Like most Indians who give thought to our relationship with the United States, I dream of Indian treaties as sacred promises or, at least, what the Constitution says in so many words:
[A]ll Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
One of the favorite pastimes of Indian lawyers has always been disputing among themselves which U.S. Supreme Court decisions are the worst of the worst for the interests of Indians. Pawnee citizen Walter Echo-Hawk, a major force among Indian civil rights lawyers, wrote a whole book on his picks.
Two cases are often the scum rising to the top in this melting pot of ugliness.
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, holding that the US can abrogate treaties with the Indian nations based on a finding that abrogation is in our best interests.
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, holding that we cannot bring original actions in the Supreme Court for treaty violations the way other nations can. That is, we were a “foreign state” with which the U.S. could enter a treaty but not a “foreign state” that could invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to claim a treaty was violated.
