Congress disestablished the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma over 100 years ago, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday.

The reservation was created for the Osage Nation in 1872. But in 1906, Congress passed the Osage Allotment Act, which distributed most of the reservation to individual tribal members.

"The legislative history and the negotiation process make clear that all the parties at the table understood that the Osage reservation would be disestablished by the Osage Allotment Act, and uncontested facts in the record provide further evidence of a contemporaneous understanding that the reservation had been dissolved," the court said in a unanimous opinion.

The tribe claims all of Osage County as its reservation and sought to prevent the Oklahoma Tax Commission from collecting state income taxes on tribal members who live within the county. The 10th Circuit said it didn't have to decide the tax issue because it determined the reservation was disestablished.

The tribe could ask the 10th Circuit to rehear the case or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Get the Story:
Appeal by tribe rejected (The Tulsa World 3/6)

10th Circuit Decision:
Osage Nation v. Oklahoma (March 8, 2010)

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10th Circuit hears arguments over status of Osage land (1/11)
Osage Nation files brief in reservation status case (7/28)
Osage Nation to appeal reservation status case (3/17)
Osage Nation seeks new ruling in reservation case (2/11)
Osage chief blasts ruling on reservation status (1/27)
Osage Nation loses state taxation lawsuit (1/26)
Supreme Court won't hear Osage Nation case (10/6)