View source for United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co.

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{one source|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox SCOTUS case
|Litigants=United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co.
|ArgueDateA=November 12
|ArgueDateB=13
|ArgueYear=1941
|DecideDate=December 8
|DecideYear=1941
|FullName=United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Company
|USVol=314
|USPage=339
|ParallelCitations=62 S. Ct. 248; 86 [[L. Ed.]] 260; 1941 [[U.S. LEXIS]] 1124
|Prior=114 [[F.2d]] [https://www.leagle.com/decision/1940534114f2d4201440 420] ([[9th Cir.]] 1940), cert. granted, {{ussc|312|675|1941|el=no}}
|Subsequent=Rehearing denied, {{ussc|314|716|1942|el=no}}
|Holding=Aboriginal title is extinguished by legislation only with a clear intention.
|Majority=Douglas
|JoinMajority=''unanimous''
|LawsApplied=[[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]; 10 Stat. 308 (1854); 13 Stat. 541 (1865); 14 Stat. 292 (1866); 16 Stat. 291 (1870)
}}
'''''United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co.''''', 314 U.S. 339 (1941), is a [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] case in which the Court held that the power of Congress to extinguish aboriginal title is plenary and nonjusticiable but that Congress was presumed not to do so absent a clear intention.<ref name=SCOTUS>''United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co.'', {{ussc|314|339|1941}}.</ref> It is the leading precedent on the extinguishment of [[aboriginal title in the United States]].
The suit was brought by the federal government, on behalf of the [[Hualapai]] against the [[Santa Fe Pacific Railroad]]. The Court held that the Hualapai's [[aboriginal title]] was not extinguished by (1) its lack of federal recognition or acknowledgment by treaty, statute, for formal government action; (2) the 1848 [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] (3) an 1854 federal statute creating the office of Surveyor General of New Mexico; (4) and 1865 statute creating the [[Colorado River Indian Reservation]]; (5) the 1866 federal [[land grant]] to the railroad; (6) an 1870 federal statute creating the office of [[Surveyor General of Arizona]]; or (7) the 1874 [[Indian removal|forcible removal]] of the Hualapai to the Colorado River Indian Reservation.
However, the Court held that the 1881 creation of a reservation by [[executive order]] at the request of the Hualapai extinguished the tribe's aboriginal title outside of that reservation. The case distinguished [[aboriginal title in California]] from aboriginal title in the rest of the [[Mexican Cession]] and is frequently cited for its in-depth discussion of the test for the extinguishment of aboriginal title.
== See also ==
* ''[[McCabe v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co.]]''
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 314]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{caselaw source
| case = ''United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co.'', 314 U.S. 339 (1941)
| cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/314/339
| courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/103567/united-states-v-santa-fe-pacific-r-co/
| googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14500584015882032145
| justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/314/339/case.html
}}
{{Aboriginal title in the United States}}
{{Native American rights}}
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:Aboriginal title case law in the United States]]
[[Category:Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]]
[[Category:1941 in United States case law]]
[[Category:Hualapai]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Stone Court]]
[[Category:Native American history of New Mexico]]