The Pechanga Band of Mission Indians v. Kacor Realty, Inc., Etc.

The Pechanga Band of Mission Indians claims that its reservation includes 320 acres of undeveloped land in Riverside County, California, to which the defendants hold title. The district court entered summary judgment against the Band on three independent grounds. We need reach only the ground that the Government did not grant the land to the Band in order to affirm the district court’s judgment.

I. History

Ownership of the land turns on events from the late 19th century. Peter Mouren, the defendants’ predecessor-in-interest, obtained a patent to some of the land in 1882 and a second patent to the remainder in 1885. Due to suspected fraud by Mouren, the Government brought two lawsuits in 1894 to set aside the patents. It dropped the suits in mid-1901 prior to any decision on the merits.

The Pechanga Band derives whatever interest it may have in the land from the reservations established pursuant to two acts of Congress. In 1864, Congress empowered the President to set apart land in California “to be retained by the United States for the purposes of Indian reservations.” The Four Reservations Act § 2, ch. 48, 13 Stat. 39 , 40. Under the 1864 Act, the President could change…