Cite as: 526 U. S. 172 (1999)
Syllabus
tion itself. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U. S. 579, 585. The Court of Appeals concluded that the 1830 Removal Act did not authorize the removal order, and no party challenges that conclusion here. Even if the 1830 Removal Act did not forbid the removal order, it did not authorize the order. There is no support for the landowners' claim that the 1837 Treaty authorized the removal order. The Treaty made no mention of removal, and the issue was not discussed during treaty negotiations. The Treaty's silence is consistent with the United States' objectives in negotiating the Treaty: the purchase of Chippewa land. The State argues that, even if the order's removal portion was invalid, the treaty privileges were nevertheless revoked because the invalid removal order was severable from the portion of the order revoking usufructuary rights. Assuming, arguendo, that the severability standard for statutes—whether the legislature would not have taken the valid action independently of the invalid action, e. g., Champlin Refining Co. v. Corporation Comm'n of Okla., 286 U. S. 210, 234—also applies to Executive Orders, the historical evidence indicates that President Taylor intended the 1850 order to stand or fall as a whole. That order embodied a single, coherent policy, the primary purpose of which was the Chippewa's removal. The revocation of usufructuary rights was an integral part of this policy, for the order tells the Indians to "go" and not to return to the ceded lands to hunt or fish. There is also little historical evidence that the treaty privileges themselves—rather than the Indians' presence—caused problems necessitating revocation of the privileges. Pp. 188-195.
(b) The Mille Lacs Band did not relinquish its 1837 Treaty rights in the 1855 Treaty by agreeing to "fully and entirely relinquish and convey to the United States, any and all right, title, and interest, of whatsoever nature the same may be, which they may now have in, and to any other lands in the Territory of Minnesota or elsewhere." That sentence does not mention the 1837 Treaty or hunting, fishing, and gathering rights. In fact, the entire 1855 Treaty is devoid of any language expressly mentioning usufructuary rights or providing money for abrogation of those rights. These are telling omissions, since federal treaty drafters had the sophistication and experience to use express language when abrogating treaty rights. The historical record, purpose, and context of the negotiations all support the conclusion that the 1855 Treaty was designed to transfer Chippewa land to the United States, not terminate usufructuary rights. Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife v. Klamath Tribe, 473 U. S. 753, distinguished. Pp. 195-202.
(c) The Chippewa's usufructuary rights were not extinguished when Minnesota was admitted to the Union. Congress must clearly express an intent to abrogate Indian treaty rights, United States v. Dion, 476
173
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007