The Sioux Tribe of Indians, Oglala Sioux Tribe and Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. The United States

This case has been decided for the best and worst of reasons: to end some thirty-eight years of litigation, by a monetary payment the maximum amount of which was decided in 1978; yet denying the majority of the plaintiff Sioux Indians, as comprise the Oglala and the Rosebud Sioux tribes, the right to withdraw their action.

I offer no view on the prospects for the alternate remedy desired by the Oglala and Rosebud and apparently other Sioux tribes, but I greatly question the basis of the Claims Court’s decision.

The proceedings from which this appeal is taken derived from a misperception, now…