South Dakota, Petitioner v. Gregg Bourland, etc., et al. Country/Territory United States of America Type of court National - higher court Date Jun 14, 1993 Source UNEP, InforMEA Court name Supreme Court of the United States Seat of court Washington D.C. Judge ThomasRehnquistWhiteStevensOConnorScaliaKennedyBlackmunSouter Reference number 508 U.S. 679 (1993) Language English Subject Environment gen. Keyword Hunting rights Indigenous peoples Right of use Abstract This case dealt with the abrogation of the Treaty rights of an Indian Tribe to regulate non Indian hunting and fishing on lands taken by the United States. The Sioux had acquired absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Great Sioux Reservation under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The Flood Control Act of 1944 mandated that all water project lands be open for the general public’s use and recreational enjoyment. Subsequently, in the Cheyenne River Act, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe conveyed all interests in 104,420 acres of former trust lands to the United States for the Oahe Dam and Reservoir Project, but reserved the rights to hunt and fish to the Tribe. When the Tribe announced later on that it would no longer recognize state hunting licenses, the State filed this action against tribal officials, seeking to enjoin the Tribe from excluding non Indians from hunting on nontrust lands within the reservation. The Supreme Court reviewed the treaties and national regulation in question and held that Congress, in the Flood Control and Cheyenne River Acts, had abrogated the Tribe’s rights under the Fort Laramie Treaty to regulate non Indian hunting and fishing on lands taken by the United States for construction of the Oahe Dam and Reservoir. It was of the view that Congress had the power to abrogate Indians’ treaty rights, provided that its intent was clearly expressed. The Tribe’s original treaty right to exclude non Indians from reservation lands (implicit in its right of "absolute and undisturbed use and occupation"), was eliminated when Congress, pursuant to the Cheyenne River and Flood Control Acts, took the lands and opened them for the use of the general public. Full text 91-2051.ZO.html