## Facts

- The Cherokee Nation filed a bill in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to restrain Georgia and its officials from enforcing state laws within Cherokee territory recognized in federal treaties.
- The Nation alleged Georgia’s statutes extended state authority over Cherokee lands and threatened the Nation’s political existence and treaty-protected territorial rights.
- The Nation asserted it was a sovereign and independent political community and therefore qualified as a “foreign state” entitled to sue a state in the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.
- The requested relief included a subpoena and an injunction preventing Georgia’s enforcement actions in Cherokee territory.

## Issues

1. Whether the Cherokee Nation qualifies as a “foreign state” within Article III so it may sue Georgia in the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.
2. If original jurisdiction exists, whether the Court should issue an injunction against Georgia’s enforcement of its laws within Cherokee territory.

## Decision

- The Court dismissed the action for lack of jurisdiction and did not reach the merits or the request for injunctive relief.
- The Court concluded the Cherokee Nation was a “state” in the sense of a distinct political society recognized in federal practice and treaties.
- The Court held the Cherokee Nation was not a “foreign state” within the meaning of Article III because tribes within U.S. boundaries occupy a special status as “domestic dependent nations.”
- The Court characterized the tribal–federal relationship as resembling that of a ward to a guardian, supporting the conclusion that Article III’s foreign-state category did not apply.
- A dissent would have treated the Cherokee Nation as a foreign state for Article III purposes and allowed the case to proceed.

## Legal Principles

- Supreme Court original jurisdiction over controversies between a state and a “foreign state” depends on whether the plaintiff fits the Constitution’s category of “foreign state.”
- Indian tribes may constitute distinct political societies and be treated as such through federal dealings, including treaty practice, yet still fall outside Article III’s “foreign state” classification.
- Tribes located within the United States may be treated as “domestic dependent nations,” reflecting a dependent political status in relation to the United States.
- Recognition of a tribe’s possessory right to occupy its lands until extinguished by voluntary cession does not itself establish that the tribe is a “foreign state” for Article III jurisdiction.

## Conclusion

The Court held it lacked original jurisdiction because the Cherokee Nation, though a distinct political society, was not a “foreign state” under Article III but a “domestic dependent nation,” leaving the requested injunction against Georgia unaddressed on the merits.


Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831)