LibriVox Forum

The case of the Cherokee Nation against the State of Georgia : argued and determined at the Supreme Court of the United States, January Term, 1831

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009608543

This sounds interesting but I really don't have time to dig through the whole 300 pages or so. Hence, could you please tell me:

- what was the court case about
- and who won? (It's more fun if the Cherokee won, actually )

In 1831 - who do you think won ? Even if they had they'd have still lost.

Anne

That part of the bill which respects the land occupied by the Indians,and prays the aid of the court to protect their possession, may be more doubtful. The mere question of right might perhaps be decided by this court in a proper case with proper parties. But the court is asked to do more than decide on the title. The bill requires us to control the legislature of Georgia, and to restrain the exertion of its physical force. The propriety of (such an interposition by the court may be well questioned. It savours too much of the exercise of political power to be within the proper province of the judicial department. But the opinion on the point respecting parties makes it unnecessary to decide this question.

If it be true that the Cherokee nation have rights, this is not the tribunal in which those rights are to be asserted. If it be true that wrongs have been inflicted, and that still greater are to be apprehended, this is not the tribunal which can redress the past or prevent the future.

The motion for an injunction is denied.

In this case, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, (1831), the Court ruled that the Cherokee were not a sovereign foreign nation and so had no standing to bring this suit, so no decision was rendered by the court. But a similar case (Worcester v. Georgia), came before the court one year later, (1832), and at that time the court reconsidered its earlier reasoning and reversed it. This time, the court ruled that the Cherokee were indeed a sovereign nation, and therefore only the federal government had standing to deal with them as such, (not the state of Georgia). The decision did the Cherokee no good, however, because the administration simply ignored the court and removed them from their land anyway. President Jackson is reported to have said something along the lines of "Justice Marshall has given his decision, but let me see him enforce it".

annise wrote:Even if they had [won] they'd have still lost.

Yup, that pretty well sums it up.