''United States v. Nice'', 241 U.S. 591 (1916), is a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision which declared that
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
still retains
plenary power
A plenary power or plenary authority is a complete and absolute power to take action on a particular issue, with no limitations. It is derived from the Latin term ''plenus'' ("full").
United States
In United States constitutional law, plenary p ...
to protect
Native American interests when Native Americans are granted citizenship. ''United States v. Nice'' overruled the Heff decision which declared that Native Americans granted citizenship by the
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pres ...
were also then citizens of the state in which they resided, meaning the sale of alcohol to such Native Americans was not subject to Congress's authority.
[Smith, Michael. “The History of Indian Citizenship.” Great Plains Journal. 10.1 (Fall 1970): 33–35. Print.]
Facts
![Dawes Act - First Page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Dawes_Act_-_First_Page.jpg)
In 1897, an amendment to the
Indian Appropriations Act
The Indian Appropriations Act is the name of several acts passed by the United States Congress. A considerable number of acts were passed under the same name throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the most notable landmark acts cons ...
banned the sale of alcohol to Indians. Citizenship of the parties involved was never clarified. In the Supreme Court case ''Matter of Heff'', the decision clarified that a Native American granted citizenship through the Dawes Act is immediately a citizen of the U.S. and his state. The 1897 amendment banning alcohol was considered a police statute, where power lies with the state and not Congress, and therefore would not apply to such a citizen. Representative of South Dakota,
Charles H. Burke, saw the need to correct the situation in order to protect Native Americans from the sale of liquor. He amended the Dawes Act so that citizenship was only granted to a Native with an allotment after the trust period ran out (usually 25 years ). This amendment was meant to allow Congress to continue to safeguard Indians’ personal welfare. However, those who received allotments before the amendment was signed into law on May 8, 1906, were still considered state citizens and not subject to federal authority except when concerning their land. The amendment only put the alcohol ban into effect for Natives receiving allotments after May 8, 1906. When Fred Nice was indicted for selling alcohol to a Native American who received an allotment before 1906, he was acquitted in a lower court using the Heff decision as his defense,
but the U.S. appealed, represented by Assistant Attorney General Warren. Warren argued that the Pelican Case, proved federal authority and overruled the Heff decision.
Holding
The court held that congress would retain plenary power to protect Native Americans. Such plenary power is based on "the clause in the Constitution expressly investing Congress with authority 'to regulate commerce . . . with the Indian tribes,'" and the perceived dependence of tribes on the United States.
This decision meant the federal government could regulate Indian alcohol policy through the commerce clause and state powers could regulate Indian alcohol policy through the power of the police to regulate the conduct of citizens.
The major ruling is summed up by the following quote:
“Citizenship is not incompatible with tribal existence or continued guardianship, and so may be conferred without completely emancipating the Indians, or placing them beyond the reach of congressional regulations adopted for their protection.”
[.]
The decision was based on a complete review of the Dawes Act which found that congress must have wanted to continue the ward- guardian relationship because it retained control over Indian money to look over “education and civilization.”
The ruling in ''United States v. Nice'' overruled the Heff decision, claiming it was "Not well grounded."
The decision also references ''United States v. Holliday'' to show Congress's ability to regulate commerce. Another reference is made to ''
United States v. Kagama
''United States v. Kagama'', 118 U.S. 375 (1886), was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885. This Congressional act gave the federal courts jurisdiction in certain Indian-on-Indian ...
'' to show the dependence of tribes on the United States. A similar situation in the case ''
United States v. Sandoval'' is referenced to show that citizenship of the Indian party is not relevant to the issue of Congress's authority.
Implications
The legal position of Native Americans during the time of the case could be compared to that of a
Minor. Minors are citizens with guardians and have special laws applying only to them. Native Americans were set to have congress as a guardian.
This status stemmed from the view of Native Americans as an inferior race which was put into legal terms in the case
Johnson v. M'Intosh
''Johnson v. M'Intosh'', 21 U.S. (7 Wheat.) 543 (1823), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that held that private citizens could not purchase lands from Native Americans. As the facts were recited by Chief Justice John Marshall, t ...
. Native Americans were viewed as unable to resist or handle alcohol.
[Miller, Robert J. "The 'Drunken Indian': Myth Distilled into Reality Through Federal Indian Alcohol Policy." Arizona State Law Journal. 28.223 (Spring 1996)] Congress viewed United States citizenship as a method of civilizing Native Americans. The treatment of citizenship in United States v. Nice implies the inferiority of Indians and allows for individual liberties of Native Americans to be restricted based on such an implication.
Effects
''United States v. Nice'' was referenced in the case ''United States v. Mazurie'' to support the court's decision to uphold a conviction of selling alcohol in
Indian Country against non-Indians on the
Wind River Reservation
The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone ( shh, Gweechoon Deka, ''meaning: "buffalo eaters"'') and the Northern Arapaho ( arp, ho ...
who had been denied a tribal liquor license.
[.] ''United States v. Nice'' upheld Congressional power to regulate any commercial transaction involving individual Indians or a tribe, wherever situated, and to regulate the introduction of alcoholic beverages into Indian country.
[
In his book ''American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court: The Masking of Justice,'' ]David E. Wilkins
David E. Wilkins, a citizen of the Lumbee Nation, is a political scientist specializing in federal Indian policy and law. He is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies in t ...
claims that the decision in ''United States v. Nice'' "Muffled rights of individual Indians as federal citizens." The court's decision continued the contradictory treatment of Native Americans with the incongruous ideas of Indians as dependent people in need of protection and Indians as United States Citizens.
''United States v. Nice'' upheld the plenary power of Congress. The nearly unlimited power of Congress to adjust Indian rights still exists today. However, in the late 1960s and 1970s, congressional leadership began to see Indian policy in a new light. The past half century has seen a surge of laws favorable to Indians which allow tribes much more influence over their own futures. In fact, some Native Tribes, including the Yakama
The Yakama are a Native American tribe with nearly 10,851 members, based primarily in eastern Washington state.
Yakama people today are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Their ...
Nation, have banned alcohol on their reservations through acts of tribal sovereignty.[Haupt, Robert J. "Never Lay a Salmon on the Ground with his Heas Toward the River": State of Washington Sues Yakamas over Alcohol Ban. ''American Indian Law Review''. 26.67 (2001)]
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States V. Nice
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the White Court
United States Native American case law
1916 in United States case law
Alcohol and Native Americans