Northern Cheyenne Tribe v. Hollowbreast

The Act of June 3, 1926, allotted tracts of land on the reservation of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe (the tribe) (plaintiff) to individual members of the tribe. According to § 3 of the act, mineral deposits beneath the allotted surface land were reserved for the tribe’s benefit, but the mineral deposits were to become the property of the individual allottees or their heirs in 1976. Section 3 did not explicitly state that Congress could terminate the allottees’ interests in the mineral deposits before 1976, but it noted that the unallotted lands remained under Congress’s control and management. However, in 1968, Congress terminated the grant of the mineral rights to the allottees and reserved the rights for the benefit of the tribe, provided that the allottees did not have vested interests in the mineral deposits. The tribe brought an action against a group of allottees (the allottees) (defendants), seeking a declaratory judgment that the allottees had only expectancy interests and no vested rights in the mineral deposits. The tribe argued that the act severed the allotted surface land from the unallotted mineral deposits underneath and that, because Congress retained control over unallotted land pursuant to the act, Congress could terminate the grant of the mineral deposits to the allottees as long as it did so before 1976. The district court agreed and held that the act did not confer vested rights in the mineral deposits to the allottees. However, the Ninth Circuit reversed, finding that the act did not severe the surface land and mineral deposits. The Ninth Circuit reasoned that, because § 3 did not clearly state that Congress retained power regarding the mineral deposits, § 3 granted the allottees a vested interest in the mineral deposits that could not be terminated by Congress. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.