Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's Complicated Indian Law Legacy
Newsy
Justice Stephen Breyer once spoke about the importance of Cherokee Nation cases. However, his record on voting for Indian rights is spotty.
In the early 2000s, Justice Stephen Breyer spoke in front of The Supreme Court Historical Society about the importance of cases involving the Cherokee Nation in the 1830s. One of those cases was largely responsible for the Trail of Tears.
"United States shall guarantee to the Cherokee Nation all their lands, not hereby ceded the Constitution itself, may treaties supreme law of the land, and the Supreme Court made clear 20 years earlier that it would strike down state laws that violated Constitutional provisions," Justice Breyer said.
Justice Breyer took an interest in these cases to explain the limit of the Nation's highest court. Cherokee cases, for Justice Breyer, are an example of how the Court's ability to enforce American law was put to the test early in its history.
