Steven Newcomb: Supreme Court holds religious sway over tribes

In 1901, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Barker v. Harvey, a case involving Cupeño people in Southern California. They were resisting eviction from the “Aqua Caliente Hot Springs” in the Warner Ranch area. To defend themselves, the Cupeño people claimed a right of “permanent occupancy” on the land. The Supreme Court rejected that argument, saying that if the Indians had had any claims founded on some previous action by the Mexican government the Cupeños had abandoned those claims by not presenting them to the 1851 federal land commission for consideration.

Because the Cupeños had not filed a claim with that land commission, the Court said they could not successfully resist “any action of the government in disposing of the property.” Never mind that the Cupeño people had probably never been informed about a need to bring their own claims before the 1851 land claims commission. And never mind that U.S. treaty commissioners were creating draft treaty documents with Native leaders in California during that same 1851-52 period, albeit treaties which were never ratified. So which was the “correct” course of action for the Native people to take? Treaty talks, or the claims commission process? It they were supposed to follow both processes, then why didn’t the U.S. government let the Native people know that at the time?

The Court acknowledged that the Cupeño Indians might only be claiming “the right of occupation,” and not fee title to the land. The Court said it could also be argued that the Native people were not claiming lands in California on the basis of “any right or title derived from the Spanish or Mexican government.” Nonetheless, the Court cautioned that the Cupeños argument of “permanent occupancy” on the land could have a “far reaching effect.”