1876 Fort Laramie Treaty

Last week, Alan Aker examined ongoing disagreement over the 1876 Fort Laramie Treaty and what that has to say about ownership of much of western South Dakota.

This week he continues that examination, looking at some of the specifics of the treaty and how it has been broken by both sides. Aker also provides a link to the treaty at the Yale Law School website.

The treaty lays out the boundaries of this area agreed to as belonging to the Lakota:

...commencing on the east bank of the Missouri river where the 46th parallel of north latitude crosses the same, thence along low-water mark down said east bank to a point opposite where the northern line of the State of Nebraska strikes the river, thence west across said river, and along the northern line of Nebraska to the 104th degree of longitude west from Greenwich, thence north on said meridian to a point where the 46th parallel of north latitude intercepts the same, thence due east along said parallel to the place of beginning; and in addition thereto, all existing reservations of the east back of said river, shall be and the same is, set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them...

Aker says both sides have violated the treaty and gives some examples. However, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980 decided that the federal government should give the Lakota $106 million in compensation. The tribes basically told the federal government where they could stick the $106 million, and that's where the issue has been.

Is anything likely to change? Aker doesn't think so.

From today's Rapid City Journal:

A bedrock principle of our jurisprudence is finality. Once a court has found you innocent of a crime, you can’t be tried again.

Once the Supreme Court declares how a treaty violation shall be resolved, you don’t get to try again. It doesn’t matter whether or not the plaintiff takes delivery of the cash the court awards.