United States v. John (1978)

United States v. John
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 19, 1978 Decided June 23, 1978
Full case name	United States v. Smith John and Harry Smith John; Smith John and Harry Smith John v. State of Mississippi
Citations	437 U.S. 634 (more) 98 S. Ct. 2541; 57 L. Ed. 2d 489; 1978 U.S. LEXIS 124
Case history
Prior	United States v. John, 560 F.2d 1202 (5th Cir. 1977); John v. State, 347 So.2d 959 (Miss. 1977)
Subsequent	United States v. John, 587 F.2d 683 (5th Cir. 1979)
Holding
Held that lands designated as a reservation in Mississippi are "Indian country" as defined by statute, and under the Major Crimes Act, the State has no jurisdiction to try an Indian for crimes covered by that act. Fifth Circuit Court reversed and remanded, Mississippi Supreme Court reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinion
Majority	Blackmun, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
18 U.S.C. §§ 1151–1153

United States v. John, 437 U.S. 634 (1978), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that lands designated as a reservation in Mississippi are "Indian country" as defined by statute, although the reservation was established nearly a century after Indian removal and related treaties. The court ruled that, under the Major Crimes Act, the State has no jurisdiction to try a Native American for crimes covered by that act that occurred on reservation land.^[1]