Elk_v._Wilkins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elk v. Wilkins Elk v. Wilkins Elk v. Wilkins Supreme Court of the United States Decided November 3, 1884 Full case name Holding An Indian cannot make himself a citizen of the United States without the consent and cooperation of the government. Court membership Chief Justice Morrison Waite Associate Justices Samuel F. Miller · Stephen J. Field Joseph P. Bradley · John M. Harlan William B. Woods · T. Stanley Matthews Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford Case opinions Majority Dissent Overruled by Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 Gray Harlan John Elk v. Charles Wilkins Elk v. Wilkins, 112 U.S. 94 (1884), was a United States Supreme Court case. John Elk, a Native American was born on an Indian reservation and subsequently moved to non-reservation U.S. territory, Omaha, Nebraska, where he renounced his former tribal allegiance and claimed citizenship by virtue of the Citizenship Clause. The case came about when Elk attempted to register to vote on April 5, 1880, and was denied by Charles Wilkins, the named defendant, who was registrar of voters of the Fifth Ward of the City of Omaha. The question then was, whether an Indian, born a member of one of the Indian tribes within the United States, is, merely by reason of his or her birth within the United States, and of his afterwards voluntarily separating him or herself from his or her tribe and taking up his or her residence among white citizens, a citizen of the United States, within the meaning of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. Under the constitution of the United States, Congress had and exercised the power to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes, and the members thereof, whether within or without the boundaries of one of the states of the Union. The Indian tribes, being within the territorial limits of the United States, were not, strictly speaking, foreign states; but they were alien nations, distinct political communities, with whom the United States might and habitually did deal, as they thought fit, either through treaties made by the president and senate, or through acts of congress in the ordinary forms of legislation. The members of those tribes owed immediate allegiance to their several tribes, and were not part of the people of the United States.[1] Although “Indian tribes, being within the territorial limits of the United States, were not, strictly speaking, foreign states,” “they were alien nations, distinct political communities,” with whom the United States dealt with through treaties and acts of Congress.[2] Thus, born a member of an Indian tribe, even on American soil, Elk could not meet the allegiance test of the jurisdictional phrase because he “owed immediate allegiance to” his tribe, a vassal or quasi-nation, and not to the United States. The Court held Elk was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States at birth. “The evident meaning of these last words is, not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.”[3] The exclusion of native Americans from citizenship was eventually eliminated by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elk v. Wilkins Citizenship, LEGAL MEMORANDUM NO. 18 (Heritage Foundation, Washington D.C.), March 30, 2006, at 3, available at http://www.heritage.org/ research/legalissues/lm18.cfm. [3] Elk, 112 U.S. at 102. See also • List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 112 References [1] Elk v. Wilkins, 112 U.S. 94, 99 (1884). [2] John C. Eastman, From Feudalism to Consent: Rethinking Birthright External links • Decision from University of Tulsa Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk_v._Wilkins" Categories: United States Supreme Court cases, 1884 in law, United States Fourteenth Amendment case law, United States Native American case law This page was last modified on 12 May 2009, at 20:42 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers 2