Nancy Walker v. Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Commission

INTRODUCTION

The Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Commission (“Commission”) determined that Walker was not entitled to benefits under the 1974 Settlement Act, 25 U.S.C. § 640d et seq. (“Act”). Walker complained in district court that she was entitled to benefits because her name appeared on a list of “potential” beneficiaries submitted by the Commission to Congress. The district court granted the Commission’s motion for summary judgment. Walker appeals.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

In 1882 a large reservation in northeastern Arizona was set aside for use by the Hopi Indians and “such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle thereon.” Executive Order of December 16, 1882. In subsequent years, members of the nearby Navajo Tribe migrated to much of the reservation and settled. By the middle part of this century the reservation was populated largely by Navajos. The Hopi and Navajo tribes, which historically had competed for resources, became enmeshed in a struggle over the reservation lands.

Various legislative and administrative efforts were made to quell the land conflict. See generally Healing v. Jones, 210 F.Supp. 125 (D.Ariz.1962), aff’d, 373 U.S. 758…