The Trend of Supreme Court Decisions in Indian Cases

For the last several decades, Indian cases in the Supreme Court of the United States have enjoyed a very low profile.That may not be flattering to the tribes or to the advocates who argue Indian cases.But, on the whole, Indians have benefitted from the general disinterest in their cases.This is so for two related reasons.(a) Within the Court itself, most Justices have shown very little interest.For many years, the assignment of the Court's opinion in Indian cases fell to Hugo Black or William Douglas, both sympathetic to the Indian cause.Putting aside monetary claims against the United States in respect to old wrongs (which have always divided the Court), it is significant how many unanimous landmark decisions were written by Justice Black.Most of them favored the Indians.I need only mention Tulee, Williams v. Lee, 2 Seymour, 3 Warren Trading Post, 4 and Arizona v. California!For Justice Douglas (whose bias in favor of Indians was tempered by his conservationist instincts), I can cite Santa Fe, and the first two Puyallup 7 decisions

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