United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians v. United States

67 Fed. Cl. 695, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 278, 2005 WL 2333294
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedSeptember 16, 2005
DocketNo. 03-1433L
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 67 Fed. Cl. 695 (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians v. United States, 67 Fed. Cl. 695, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 278, 2005 WL 2333294 (uscfc 2005).

Opinion

[696]*696OPINION

FIRESTONE, Judge.

Pending before the court is a motion to dismiss by limited-intervenor Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (“Cherokee Nation” or “Nation”) for failure to join an indispensable party pursuant to Rule 19 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”) or for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(1). Both the plaintiff, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (“UKB”) and the defendant, the United States (“government” or “United States”) oppose the Cherokee Nation’s motion. For the reasons that follow, the Cherokee Nation’s motion is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

The following facts, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the plaintiffs complaint and have been accepted as true. The Cherokee Indians originally lived in the southeastern portion of the United States on lands forming present day Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Early treaties between the Cherokees and the United States established the boundaries of the historic Cherokee Nation in these southeastern lands. Through a treaty in 1817, the United States ceded lands adjacent to the Arkansas and White Rivers to the Cherokees in exchange for a portion of the Cherokee lands in the East. One third of the Cherokees emigrated to the new Arkansas and White River lands, but the others chose to remain in the eastern lands.

Through further treaties in 1828 and 1833, the United States granted the Cherokees approximately 7 million acres of land running along the Arkansas, Canadian, and Grand Rivers. In 1835, the United States and the Cherokees entered into the Treaty of New Echota, which granted the Cherokee an additional 800,000 acres and required the Cherokee Nation to cede all of the eastern lands and move all of its members to the lands west of the Mississippi River. The treaty also provided that the lands ceded to the Cherokee Nation by the 1828, 1833, and 1835 treaties “shall all be included in one patent executed to the Cherokee nation of Indians by the President of the United States” and that the “Cherokees ... shall also be protected against interruption and intrusion from citizens of the United States, who may attempt to settle in the country without their consent; and all such persons shall be removed from the same by order of the President of the United States.” Treaty with the Cherokee (Treaty of New Echota), Dec. 29, 1835, U.S.-Cherokee, art. III, art. VI, 7 Stat. 478, 480, 481.

The Cherokees who had settled in the lands west of the Mississippi objected to the Treaty of New Echota, but the eastern Cherokees were forcibly removed from the eastern lands and placed on the western lands. Differing factions of the Cherokees fought over political power and governmental authority. In 1846, the United States attempted to resolve the dispute over governmental authority through another Treaty, which provided that the lands ceded in the Treaty of New Echota were “secured to the whole Cherokee people for their common use and benefit,” Treaty with the Cherokees, Aug. 6, 1846, U.S.-Cherokee, art. I, 9 Stat. 871, 871, and that the Arkansas Riverbed lands ceded in the 1828 Treaty were “intended for the use of, and to be the home for, the whole nation.” Id. at art. 4, 9 Stat. at 873.

In 1859, a group of western Cherokees formed the “Keetowah Society.” UKB claims that it is a successor of this group. In 1902 Congress enacted legislation establishing a system to terminate the collective holding of Cherokee lands by allotting the lands to the individual Cherokee Indians. Act of July 1, 1902, Pub.L. No. 57-241 § 11. To this end, a roll of Cherokee citizens as of September 1, 1902 was also established. Id. at § 25. The legislation further provided that the Cherokee tribal government would be terminated on March 4, 1906. Id. at § 63. However, the lands were never allotted, and in 1906 Congress provided that the unallotted lands of the Cherokee tribe and other tribes “shall be held in trust by the United States for the use and benefit of the Indians respectively comprising each of said tribes, and their heirs .... ” Act of April 26, 1906, Pub.L. No. 59-129 § 27, 34 Stat. 137, 148. [697]*697The Act also provided that each tribe would have a Principal Chief appointed by the President of the United States. Such Principal Chiefs for the Cherokee Nation were periodically appointed by the President, although during one period of time the office was left vacant for nineteen years.

After Congress passed the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 501-509, (“OIWA”) in 1936, the Keetoowah Society sought to organize as a separate entity in order to receive benefits under OIWA. In 1946, Congress enacted legislation recognizing the Keetoowah Indians as “a band of Indians residing in Oklahoma,” allowing the band to receive benefits under OIWA. Act of Aug. 10, 1946, Pub.L. No. 79-715, 60 Stat. 976. The Cherokee Nation adopted a constitution in 1976, but the tribe has never been organized under OIWA. In 1970, the United States Supreme Court determined that the Treaty of New E chota conveyed title to all lands within its metes and bounds description, including the banks and bed of the Arkansas River, to the Cherokee Nation. Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620, 634-35, 90 S.Ct. 1328, 25 L.Ed.2d 615 (1970).

In 1989, the Cherokee Nation filed an action in this court alleging that the federal government had mismanaged the Arkansas Riverbed lands held in trust for the Cherokee Nation. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, who claimed other portions of the Arkansas Riverbed, also filed suit alleging government mismanagement of lands held in trust In 2002, UKB moved to intervene in the proceedings, arguing that UKB was “a successor in interest” to the historic Cherokee Nation. This court denied the motion to intervene on the ground of untimeliness. Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma v. United States, 54 Fed.Cl. 116 (2002).

In December 2002, Congress enacted the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations Claims Settlement Act, Pub.L. No. 107-331, 116 Stat. 2845 (2002) (codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 1779-1779g) (“Settlement Act” or “Act”). As described by Congress, the purposes of the Act were to “resolve all claims that have been or could have been brought by the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations against the United States, and to confirm that the Indian Nations are forever disclaiming any right, title, or interest in the Disclaimed Drybed Lands, which are contiguous to the channel of the Arkansas River .... ” 25 U.S.C. § 1779a. The Settlement Act states:

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67 Fed. Cl. 695, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 278, 2005 WL 2333294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-keetoowah-band-of-cherokee-indians-v-united-states-uscfc-2005.