Gover

This case is controlled by the proposition that an Indian tribe has the power to decide who is a member of the tribe.

Facts

Plaintiffs claim that they are descended from people who wére named as members of the Mooretown Ranchería Indian tribe in either a 1915 census or a 1935 tribal voter list. “Rancherías are numerous small Indian reservations or communities in California, the lands for which were purchased by the Government (with Congressional authorization) for Indian use from time to time in the early years of [the twentieth] century- — a program triggered by an inquiry (in 1905-06) into the landless, homeless or penurious state of many California Indians.” 1 In 1958, the Moore-town Ranchería consisted of two separated 80 acre parcels of land in Butte County, California, near Oroville.

Congress adopted the California Ranchería Termination Act in 1958 in order to distribute ranchería lands to individual Indians. 2 The Act provided for the conveyance of ranchería assets, with unrestricted title, to the individual Indians living there, if a majority of the Indians voting approved. Before conveyance, the Act required the government to survey the land owned by the ranchería,…