Talton v. Mayes
| Talton v. Mayes | |
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| Argued April 16, 1896 Decided May 18, 1896 |
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| Full case name | Talton v. Mayes |
| Citations | 163 U.S. 376 (more) |
| Holding | |
| The individual rights protections, which limit federal, and later, state governments, do not apply to tribal government. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | White, joined by Field, Gray, Fuller, Brewer, Brown, Shiras Jr., Peckham |
| Dissent | Harlan |
Talton v. Mayes, 163 U.S. 376, was an 1896 United States Supreme Court case, in which the court decided that the individual rights protections, which limit federal, and later, state governments, do not apply to tribal government. It reaffirmed earlier decisions, such as the 1831 Cherokee Nation v. Georgia case, that gave Indian tribes the status of "domestic dependent nations," the sovereignty of which is independent of the federal government.
Talton v. Mayes was brought before the United States Supreme Court in 1896 by Bob Talton, a Cherokee Indian convicted of the murder of a fellow Cherokee. He was sentenced to death by hanging after a trial that took place between May and December 1892. The appellant appealed the decision on the basis that the court had violated his rights by being in contradiction to the law. The US Constitution and, by the end of his trial, the Cherokee laws, demanded more than the 5 Grand Jury members furnished by the Cherokee Courts.
According to Justice White in the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, "Prior to May 1892, a law enacted by the legislature of the Cherokee Nation made it the duty of the judges of the circuit and district courts of the Nation, 14 days before the commencement of the first regular term of said courts, to furnish to the sheriff a list of the names of 5 persons, who should be summoned by the sheriff to act as grand jurors for that district during the year. The first regular term of the courts named commenced on the second Monday in May.
On November 28, 1892, a law was enacted providing for the summoning and impaneling of a grand jury of 13, the names of the persons to compose such jury to be furnished to the sheriff, as under the previous law, 14 days before the commencement of the regular term of the circuit and district courts. There was no express repeal of the provisions of the prior law. Under the terms of the act of November 28, 1892, a grand jury could not have been impaneled before the term beginning on the second Monday of May 1893. The indictment in question was returned in December 1892, by a grand jury consisting of five persons, which grand jury had been impaneled under the prior law, to serve during the year 1892." The appellant argued that the decision should be thrown out because it violated either the Fifth or the Fourteenth amendment.
The central focus of the case was on the relationship between the Cherokee Nation and the United States, and if the local government of the Cherokee Nation was dependent in any way upon the Constitution and its amendments. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury..." Because the grand jury consisted of fewer members than were by law required in the United States, Talton argues that it was not an actual "Grand Jury" as would be needed to fulfill the requirements for the Fifth Amendment.
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