United States v. Ramsey (1926)

United States v. Ramsey
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 22, 1926 Decided June 1, 1926
Full case name	United States v. John Ramsey et al.
Citations	271 U.S. 467 (more) 46 S. Ct. 559; 70 L. Ed. 1039
Case history
Prior	United States v. Ramsey (W.D. Okla.) (unreported)
Holding
Held that the United States had the authority to prosecute crimes against Native Americans (Indians) on land that was on a reservation and which was still designated Indian Country by federal law.
Court membership
Chief Justice William H. Taft Associate Justices Oliver W. Holmes Jr. · Willis Van Devanter James C. McReynolds · Louis Brandeis George Sutherland · Pierce Butler Edward T. Sanford · Harlan F. Stone
Case opinion
Majority	Sutherland, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
R.S.§ 2145

United States v. Ramsey, 271 U.S. 467 (1926), was a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the government had the authority to prosecute crimes against Native Americans (Indians) on reservation land that was still designated Indian Country by federal law. The Osage Indian Tribe held mineral rights that were worth millions of dollars. A white rancher, William K. Hale, devised a plot to kill tribal members to allow his nephew, who was married to a tribal member, to inherit the mineral rights. The tribe requested the assistance of the federal government, which sent Bureau of Investigation agents to solve the murders. Hale and several others were arrested and tried for the murders, but they claimed that the federal government did not have jurisdiction. The district court quashed the indictments, but on appeal, the Supreme Court reversed, holding that the Osage lands were Indian Country and that the federal government therefore had jurisdiction. This put an end to the Osage Indian murders.