United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe

United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, 537 U.S. 465 (2003), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held in a 5–4 decision that when the federal government used land or property held in trust for an Indian tribe, it had the duty to maintain that land or property and was liable for any damages for a breach of that duty. In the 1870s, the White Mountain Apache Tribe was placed on a reservation in Arizona . The case involved Fort Apache, a collection of buildings on the reservation which were transferred to the tribe by the United States Congress in 1960.

Although the tribe owned the Fort Apache buildings, they were held in trust and used exclusively by the federal government for an Indian school. This was a continuation of the building's use from when the federal government retained title. As more schools were built at other Indian reservations, attendance dropped at the Fort Apache school. The tribe began to plan for use of the buildings and sought designation as a historic site. When the federal government wanted to turn the property over to the tribe for use, the tribe found that the property had deteriorated and sued for damages to the property. The trial court denied the tribe's claim, but the Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the federal government had a duty to take care of the property. The government then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the tribe could not make a claim without Congressional authorization. The tribe argued that the 1960 act created the trust and authorized damages.

The Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court, holding that the federal government used the property it held in trust, and that it therefore had a duty to maintain the property. Justice Ginsburg issued a concurring opinion, while Justice Thomas dissented. The loss led the government to settle with the tribe for $12 million. The buildings are managed by the Fort Apache Heritage Foundation and the case, along with several others define the Indian Trust Doctrine. The case has been widely discussed in legal literature and books, primarily in the area of Indian trusts.

Contents

• 1 Background

  • 1.1 History

  • 1.2 Federal Claims Court

  • 1.3 Federal Circuit Court of Appeals

• 2 Supreme Court

  • 2.1 Arguments

  • 2.2 Opinion of the Court

  • 2.3 Concurrence

  • 2.4 Dissent

• 3 Subsequent developments

  • 3.1 Law reviews and books

• 4 References

• 5 External links

Background

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_v._White_Mountain_Apache_Tribe&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Background")

History

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_v._White_Mountain_Apache_Tribe&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: History")

In 1869 Major John Green led a force to the White River area and recommended that an outpost be established there. In 1870 Fort Apache was established by the United States Army in Arizona and remained an active military installation until 1922, when it was transferred to the Department of the Interior (DOI). A series of Executive Orders by President Ulysses S. Grant from 1871 to 1877 established the Fort Apache Indian Reservation , with the actual fort being held by the government as fee simple land. From 1897 to 1922 the fort was in the middle of the reservation. Under the terms of the transfer, 400 acres (1.6 km2) were set aside for the Theodore Roosevelt Indian School .

The school initially housed 250 Navajo and Hopi children, and additional buildings were constructed to accommodate them. Between 1933 and 1939, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) used the site for its regional trachoma school, using both laboratory animals and Indian children for experiments to treat the eye disease. During World War II, the school taught students from a good number of southwestern tribes. During the 1950s, as the tribe was fighting against termination , the emphasis of the school was on vocational and technical training. Beginning in 1960, the BIA contracted for schools to be built near other tribes, and attendance at the school started to drop.

In 1960, Congress provided that Fort Apache was to be held in trust for the White Mountain Apache Tribe, but allowed the DOI to use the property for "administrative or school purposes." By the 1970s, most of the other tribes had obtained their own schools, and the school normally had fewer than 100 students. With the reduction in the number of students, the BIA budget for Fort Apache also dropped, causing deferred maintenance and the demolition of several buildings.

The tribe resolved to place the site on the National Historic Registry . In 1976, the National Park Service designated the site as a National Historic Site . By 1993, the tribe had adopted a master plan to try to preserve the buildings and commissioned a study to determine what the cost would be to restore the property. The U.S. government acknowledged that some of the thirty-five buildings were in poor shape, but maintained that the rest were properly maintained. In 1998, the site was designated by the World Monuments Fund as one of the 100 most endangered sites .

Federal Claims Court

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_v._White_Mountain_Apache_Tribe&action=edit&section=3 "Edit section: Federal Claims Court")

In 1999, the tribe filed suit in the United States Court of Federal Claims , seeking $14,000,000 in damages for breach of trust by DOI. The tribe argued that the United States had exclusive control over the buildings and allowed them to fall into disrepair, a violation of the trust relationship established by the 1960 statute. Additionally, the tribe claimed that the Snyder Act and the National Historic Preservation Act applied in this case. The Snyder Act deals with appropriations to the BIA, and the National Historic Preservation Act discussed federal assistance

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