County of Oneida v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York State | |
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Argued October 1, 1984 Decided March 4, 1985 | |
Full case name | County of Oneida, New York, et al. v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York State, et al. |
Citations | 470 U.S. 226 (more) 105 S. Ct. 1245, 84 L. Ed. 2d 169, 53 U.S.L.W. 4225 |
Case history | |
Prior | 464 F.2d 916 (2d Cir. 1972), cert. granted, 412 U.S. 927 (1973), rev'd, Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661 (1974), on remand, 434 F. Supp. 527 (N.D.N.Y. 1977), aff'd, 719 F.2d 525 (2d Cir. 1983), cert. granted, 465 U.S. 1099 (1984). |
Subsequent | Rehearing denied, 471 U.S. 1062 (1985), on remand, 217 F. Supp. 2d 292 (N.D.N.Y. 2002), motion for relief denied, 214 F.R.D. 83 (N.D.N.Y. 2003), motion for relief granted after remand, 2003 WL 21026573 (N.D.N.Y. 2003). |
Holding | |
Indian tribes have a federal common law cause of action, not preempted by the Nonintercourse Act, for possessory claims based upon aboriginal title; such action is not barred by limitations, abatement, ratification or nonjusticiability, and due to the Eleventh Amendment, there is no ancillary jurisdiction for counties' cross-claims against a state. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Powell, joined by Blackmun, O'Connor (Parts I, II, III, IV, VI joined by Brennan, Marshall; Part V joined by Burger, White, Rehnquist) |
Concur/dissent | Brennan, joined by Marshall |
Concur/dissent | Stevens, joined by Burger, White, Rehnquist |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. XI; Federal common law; Nonintercourse Act |
County of Oneida v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York State, 470 U.S. 226 (1985), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning aboriginal title in the United States. The case, sometimes referred to as Oneida II, was "the first Indian land claim case won on the basis of the Nonintercourse Act."[1]
The Supreme Court held that Indian tribes have a common law cause of action for possessory land claims based upon aboriginal title, that the Nonintercourse Act did not preempt that cause of action, and that the cause of action was not barred by a statute of limitations, abatement, implicit federal ratification, or nonjusticiability. Four dissenting justices would have held for the counties on the defense of laches, a question which the majority did not reach, but expressed doubts about.
Furthermore, the Court held that, due to the Eleventh Amendment, federal courts could not exercise ancillary jurisdiction over cross-claims by counties against states. Although only two other justices agreed with the entirety of Justice Powell's majority opinion, Brennan and Marshall agreed with Parts I-IV and VI (the Oneida's claims against the counties) and Burger, White, and Rehnquist agreed with Part V (the counties claims against the state), thus forging separate majorities.
The case is often referred to as Oneida II because it is the second of three times the Oneida Indian Nation reached the Supreme Court in litigating its land rights claims. It followed Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. County of Oneida (Oneida I) (1974), holding that there was federal subject-matter jurisdiction, and was followed by City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005), rejecting the tribe's attempt in a later lawsuit to re-assert tribal sovereignty over parcels of land re-acquired by the tribe in fee simple.