Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1484_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 24.0

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

3 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

modes of life.’ ”  Id., at 49.  In time, he imagined, “ ‘the old
Indians will die off and carry with them the latent longings
for  murder  and  robbing;  the  young  ones  will  take  their 
places without these longings: and thus, little by little, they
will become a happy and contented people.’ ”  Ibid.  This vi-
sion found support from others in the federal government. 
As Commissioner of Indian Affairs William P. Dole put it in
his  annual  report,  the  situation  with  the  Navajo  “ ‘de-
mand[ed] the earliest possible interposition of the military 
force of the government.’ ”  Ibid.  In his view, only putting
the Navajo  on a “ ‘suitable reservatio[n]’ ” would end their 
“ ‘wild and predatory life.’ ”  Ibid. 

In settling on this plan, the federal government had goals 
in mind beyond reducing conflict.  As Carleton explained,
“ ‘[b]y the subjugation and colonization of the Navajo [T]ribe 
we gain for civilization their whole country, which is much 
larger in extent than the [S]tate of Ohio, and, besides being 
the best pastoral region between the two oceans, is said to 
abound  in  the  precious  as  well  as  [other]  useful  metals.’ ”  
Id., at 50.  The “ ‘exodus of this whole people from the land
of  their  fathers’ ”  would  be,  he  imagined,  “ ‘a  touching 
sight.’ ”  Ibid.   But  no  matter.  He  saw  it  as  the  Navajo’s 
“ ‘destiny’ ”  to  “ ‘give  way  to  the  insatiable  progress  of  our 
race.’ ”  Ibid. 

Removal  demanded  finding  a  new  home  for  the  Tribe. 
Carleton picked the location himself:  an area hundreds of 
miles  from  the  Navajo’s  homeland  “commonly  called  the 
Bosque  Redondo.”  Ibid.;  see  also  Kessell  254.    Warning
signs flashed from the start.  Officers tasked with surveying 
the site cautioned that it was “ ‘remote’ ” from viable “ ‘for-
age’ ”  and  that  “ ‘[b]uilding  material’ ”  would  have  to  come 
from a significant distance.  Iverson 50.  Worse, they found 
that  the  water  supply  was  meager  and  contained  “ ‘much 
unhealthy  mineral  matter.’ ”    Ibid.;  see  also  Kessell  269. 
Carleton ignored these findings and charged ahead with his 
plan.  Iverson 50.