Nebraska Public Power District v. 100.95 Acres of Land
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
719 F.2d 956 (1983)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
A 1901 federal statute permitted the judicial condemnation of lands allotted to Native Americans for any public purpose. In 1948, Congress enacted a statute that conditioned the grant of rights-of-way through Native American lands on authorization by the Secretary of the Interior. The 1948 statute was intended to streamline the process of obtaining rights-of-way, though not to the point of replacing earlier federal statutes. The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) (plaintiff) initiated litigation to condemn several tracts of land running through the reservation of the Winnebago Indian Tribe (the tribe) for the purpose of constructing an electric transmission line. Some of the land was held by the tribe as a whole; other parts were allotments owned by individual members of the tribe. Neither the tribe nor the allottees nor the Secretary of the Interior consented to the granting of rights-of-ways on the land. The federal district court ruled against NPPD, holding that the 1901 statute had been effectively repealed by the 1948 statute. NPPD appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Fagg, J.)
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