Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

Opinions Opinions & Dissents U.S. Supreme Court Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. 5 Pet. 1 1 (1831) Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 Syllabus Motion for an injunction to prevent the execution of certain acts of the Legislature of the State of Georgia in the territory of the Cherokee Nation, on behalf of the Cherokee Nation, they claiming to proceed in the Supreme Court of the United States as a foreign state against the State of Georgia under the provision of the Constitution of the United States which gives to the Court jurisdiction in controversies in which a State of the United States or the citizens thereof, and a foreign state, citizens, or subjects thereof are parties. The Cherokee Nation is not a foreign state in the sense in which the terms "foreign state" is used in the Constitution of the United States. The third article of the Constitution of the United States describes the extent of the judicial power. The second section closes an enumeration of the cases to which it extends with "controversies between a State or the citizens thereof and foreign states, citizens or subjects." A subsequent clause of the same section gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction in all cases in which a State shall be a party -- the State of Georgia may then certainly be sued in this Court. The Cherokees are a State. They have been uniformly treated as a State since the settlement of our country. The numerous treaties made with them by the United States recognise them …