United States Tenth Circuit

In an action by the Osage Nation seeking a declaratory judgment that the Nation's reservation, which comprised all of Osage County, Oklahoma, had not been disestablished and remained Indian country within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. section 1151, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) the legislative history and the negotiation process made clear that all the parties at the table understood that the Osage reservation would be disestablished by the Osage Allotment Act, and uncontested facts in the record provided further evidence of a contemporaneous understanding that the reservation had been dissolved; and 2) after enactment, federal officials responsible for the Osage lands repeatedly referred to the area as a "former reservation" under state jurisdiction.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/05/2010
• Published 03/05/2010

Judges

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel