Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/430/73/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 05:54:16+00:00

Document:
The Delaware Indians, who originally resided in the Northeastern United States, were gradually forced to move westward in the 19th century, and the tribe became geographically scattered. One group (the Cherokee Delawares), which initially had settled on a Kansas reservation as part of the tribe's main body, eventually moved to "Indian Country" in Oklahoma, became assimilated with the Cherokees, and is today a federally recognized tribe. Another group (the Absentee Delawares), which never joined the main body in Kansas, but migrated to Oklahoma and settled with the Wichita and Caddo Indians, is also a federally recognized tribe. A third group (the Kansas Delawares) lived with the main body on the Kansas reservation, but remained in Kansas when the Cherokee Delawares moved to Oklahoma; under an 1866 treaty, the Kansas Delawares elected to become United States citizens and to receive individual parcels of land in Kansas on condition that they dissolve their relationship with the tribe and participate in tribal assets only to the extent of a "just proportion" of the tribe's credits "then held in trust by the United States," and the descendants of this group are not a federally recognized tribe. The question presented by this litigation is whether the Kansas Delawares were denied equal protection of the laws in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because they were excluded from the distribution of funds authorized by an Act of Congress, which provided for distribution of funds only to the Cherokee and Absentee Delawares pursuant to an award by the Indian Claims Commission to redress a breach by the United States of an 1854 treaty with the Delaware Tribe.
may be of a plenary nature, but it is not absolute." United States v. Alcea Band of Tillamooks, 329 U. S. 40, 329 U. S. 54. The appropriate standard of judicial review is that the legislative judgment should not be disturbed "[a]s long as the special treatment can be tied rationally to the fulfillment of Congress' unique obligation toward the Indians," Morton v. Mancari, 417 U. S. 535, 417 U. S. 555. Pp. 430 U. S. 83-85.
2. The exclusion of the Kansas Delawares from distribution under the Act does not offend the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, since, on the record, such exclusion was "tied rationally to the fulfillment of Congress' unique obligation toward the Indians." Pp. 430 U. S. 85-89.
(a) The Kansas Delawares, not being a recognized tribal entity, are simply individual Indians with no vested rights in any tribal property, such as is distributed by the Act. As tribal property, the appropriated funds were subject to Congress' exercise of its traditional broad authority over the management and distribution of property held by recognized tribes, an authority "drawn both explicitly and implicitly from the Constitution itself," Morton v. Mancari, supra at 417 U. S. 551-552. Pp. 430 U. S. 85-86.
(b) An earlier exclusion of the Kansas Delawares from participation in tribal assets in another Act settling clam of the Delaware Tribe, while not of itself legitimating their exclusion from the Act in question, nevertheless indicates that Congress has historically distinguished them from the Cherokee Delawares in distributing tribal awards. Pp. 430 U. S. 86-87.
(c) It appears from the legislative history of the Act in question that Congress deliberately limited the distribution under the Act to the Cherokee and Absentee Delawares to avoid undue delay, administrative difficulty, and potentially unmeritorious claims, and this congressional choice is rationally supported, even though based on an unrelated experience in ignorance of the effect of the limitation of the distribution on the Kansas Delawares. Pp. 430 U. S. 87-89.
BRENNAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which STEWART, WHITE, MARSHALL, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined and in Parts I and II of which BURGER, C.J., and BLACKMUN, J., joined. BLACKMUN, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the result, in which BURGER, C.J., joined, post, p. 430 U. S. 90. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 430 U. S. 91.
and part of Delaware. The Munsee Indians, related to the Delawares, resided in the northern part of that area. Under pressure from new settlers, both the Delawares and the Munsees were gradually forced to move westward, and, by 1820, they were geographically scattered. During the trek westward, the main branch of the Delawares stopped for varying lengths of time in what are now Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri, while others went to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In 1818, the Delawares in Indiana ceded their lands in that State to the United States in return for a promise of land west of the Mississippi River. [Footnote 3] The Delawares then moved to Missouri for a short time, but, under an 1829 "supplementary article" to the 1818 treaty, were again moved to what they were told would be their permanent residence on a reservation in Kansas. [Footnote 4] The establishment of this reservation was purportedly the fulfillment of the promise made in the 1818 treaty to provide western land in return for their agreement to leave their Indiana lands.
"does not mean that all federal legislation concerning Indians is . . . immune from judicial scrutiny or that claims, such as those presented by [appellees], are not justiciable."
Brief for Appellants in No. 75-1495, p. 19 n.19. We agree with the Secretary of the Interior.
The statement in Lone Wolf, supra at 187 U. S. 565, that the power of Congress "has always been deemed a political one, not subject to be controlled by the judicial department of the government," however pertinent to the question then before the Court of congressional power to abrogate treaties, see generally Antoine v. Washington, 420 U. S. 194, 420 U. S. 201-204 (1975), has not deterred this Court, particularly in this day, from scrutinizing Indian legislation to determine whether it violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment. See, e.g., Morton v. Mancari, 417 U. S. 535 (1974). "The power of Congress over Indian affairs may be of a plenary nature, but it is not absolute." United States v. Alcea Band of Tillamooks, 329 U. S. 40, 329 U. S. 54 (1946) (plurality opinion); see also United States v. Creek Nation, 295 U. S. 103, 295 U. S. 109-110 (1935); cf. United States v. Jim, 409 U. S. 80, 409 U. S. 82 n. 3 (1972).
supra, or to devote to tribal use mineral rights under allotments that otherwise would have gone to individual allottees, Northern Cheyenne Tribe v. Hollowbreast, 425 U. S. 649 (1976). The standard of review most recently expressed is that the legislative judgment should not be disturbed "[a]s long as the special treatment can be tied rationally to the fulfillment of Congress' unique obligation toward the Indians. . . ." Morton v. Mancari, supra at 417 U. S. 555.
supra at 417 U. S. 551-552. This authority of Congress to control tribal assets has been termed "one of the most fundamental expressions, if not the major expression, of the constitutional power of Congress over Indian affairs. . . ." F. Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian Law 94, 97 (1942).
"[m]anifestly, [the Kansas Delawares] were not entitled to participate in the distribution of annuities or other funds due or belonging to the Delaware tribe"
"The provision in the [A]ct of April 21, 1904, supra, authorizes and directs payment to the 'Delaware tribe of Indians residing in the Cherokee Nation, as said tribe shall in council direct.' . . . The proviso immediately following the appropriation in the [A]ct emphasizes the clear indication that the appropriation was made for the tribe, as distinguished from the Delaware Indians who had severed their tribal relations and become citizens of the United States."
11 Comp. Dec. 496, 500 (1905) (emphasis in original). While this precedent of excluding the Kansas Delawares from the 1904 distribution does not, of itself, legitimate their exclusion from the present distribution statute, their earlier exclusion nevertheless indicates that Congress has historically distinguished them from the Cherokee Delawares in distributing an award based in part on a breach of the very treaty involved in this litigation.
persons born on or prior to and living on the date of this Act who are lineal descendants of members of the Delaware Tribe as it existed in 1854. . . . [Footnote 18]"
This catchall would have been analogous to a clause in a 1968 statute distributing funds to compensate the Delaware Tribe for the United States' inadequate payment to them when they were moved off their Indiana lands in 1818. [Footnote 19] Under the 1968 catchall clause, all lineal descendants of the tribe as it existed in 1818 were permitted to share in the distribution, 25 U.S.C. § 1181(d), and about 300 Kansas Delawares were thereby allowed to participate in the distribution of the award redressing the 1818 wrong.
were still unresolved, and distribution under the 1968 statute was virtually paralyzed. Hearings on H.R. 5200 before the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., 12, 22, 59, 79, 97, 105-106, 113 (Mar. 13, 1972) (unpublished).
"made aware that the limitation of distribution to [the Cherokee and Absentee Delawares] would exclude a group which had lived on the Kansas Delaware lands and which could trace their Delaware descendancy as the Kansas Delawares do."
Our conclusion that the exclusion of the Kansas Delawares from distribution under Pub.L. 92-456 does not offend the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, of course, does not preclude Congress from revising the distribution scheme to include the Kansas Delawares. The distribution authorized by Pub.L. 92-456 has not yet occurred, and Congress has the power to revise its original allocation. United States v. Jim, 409 U.S. at 409 U. S. 82-83.
* Together with No. 75-1335, Absentee Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma Business Committee et al. v. Weeks, et al., and No. 75-1495, Andrus, Secretary of the Interior, et al. v. Weeks et al., also on appeal from the same court; and No. 75-1328, Weeks et al. v. Andrus, Secretary of the Interior, et al., also on appeal from the same court but not argued. See n 16, infra.
Fifth Amendment equal protection claims are cognizable under the Amendment's Due Process Clause. Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U. S. 163, 377 U. S. 168 (1964); Bollin v. Sharpe, 347 U. S. 497, 347 U. S. 499 (1954). "Equal protection analysis in the Fifth Amendment area is the same as that under the Fourteenth Amendment." Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 424 U. S. 93 (1976).
A more detailed narrative of the Delawares' history and westward migrations may be found in Delaware Tribe of Indians v. United States, 2 Ind.Cl.Comm. 253, 255-261 (1952), and in the opinion of the District Court below, Weeks v. United States, 406 F.Supp. 1309 (WD Okla.1975). See also S.Rep. No. 1518, 90th Cong., 2d Sess., 7-12 (1968); C. Weslager, The Delaware Indians (1972); M. Wright, A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma 145-155 (1977).
"Whereas some years ago a good many of the Delawares went down among the Southern Indians, and as there are still about two hundred of them there, and as they have reason to believe they will return soon, it is hereby agreed that eighty acres each be set apart for them, to be allotted to them as they return. . . ."
The formal name of the Cherokee Delawares is the Delaware Tribe of Indians. Appellees contend that the Cherokee Delawares were not a federally recognized tribe until after the commencement of this lawsuit. Tr. of Oral Arg. 58-59. The District Court made no finding as to the Cherokee Delawares' status as a recognized tribe, but it is clear that Congress, prior to the enactment of the statute, had dealt with the Cherokee Delawares as a distinct entity. See, e.g., Act of 1904, § 21, 33 Stat. 222, providing for payments to "the Delaware tribe of Indians residing in the Cherokee Nation, as said tribe shall in council direct . . . "; 43 Stat. 812; 44 Stat. 1358; and 49 Stat. 1459, amending 43 Stat. 812.
These 21 adults had 49 children who, under the terms of the 1866 treaty, were permitted to elect for themselves upon attaining majority whether to join the Delawares who had moved to the Cherokee Nation. Under an 1874 treaty, however, the minor children were all granted citizenship in the United States, and were granted land on the same terms as their parents. 18 Stat. 146, 175. The District Court found that the 1874 treaty eliminated the necessity for an election by the children. 46 F.Supp. at 1320.
Appellees stated at oral argument in this Court that a Kansas Delaware, Mr. Joe Bartles, was prominently involved in prosecuting the Delawares' claims before the Indian Claims Commission, that two Kansas Delawares had served as members of the (Cherokee) Delaware Tribal Business Committee, and that the Business Committee, in 1952, adopted a resolution recognizing a number of Kansas Delawares as entitled to share in Delaware lands. Tr. of Oral Arg. 59-61. There were apparently no Kansas Delawares on the Business Committee during Congress' deliberations on the statute to distribute the award to redress the breach of the 1854 treaty.
It is not disputed that the credits "then held in trust by the United States" which were distributed proportionately to the Kansas Delawares under the 1866 treaty included the amount received by the United States when it sold the trust lands privately, rather than at public auction. We may assume that compliance by the United States with its promise to sell the lands at public auction would have meant that the sum paid to each Kansas Delaware who bought out of the tribe would have been larger.
"The funds appropriated by the Act of December 26, 1969 (83 Stat. 447, 453), to pay a judgment in favor of the petitioners, the Delaware Tribe of Indians in docket 298, and the Absentee Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma, and others, in docket 72, together with any interest thereon, after payment of attorney fees, litigation expenses, and such expenses as may be necessary in effecting the provisions of sections 1291 to 1297 of this title, shall be distributed as provided in such sections."
"The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a roll of all persons who meet the following requirements:"
"(a) they were born on or prior to and were living on October 3, 1972; and"
"(b) they are citizens of the United States; and"
"(c)(1) their name or the name of a lineal ancestor appears on the Delaware Indian per capita payroll approved by the Secretary on April 20, 1906, or"
"(a) The Secretary of the Interior shall apportion to the Absentee Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma, as presently constituted, so much of the judgment fund and accrued interest as the ratio of the persons enrolled pursuant to section 1292(c)(2) of this title bears to the total number of persons enrolled pursuant to section 1292 of this title. The funds so apportioned to the Absentee Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma shall be placed to the credit of the tribe in the United States Treasury and shall be used in the following manner: 90 per centum of such funds shall be distributed in equal shares to each person enrolled pursuant to section 1292(c)(2) of this title, and 10 per centum shall remain to the credit of the tribe in the United States Treasury, and may be advanced, expended, invested, or reinvested for any purpose that is authorized by the tribal governing body and approved by the Secretary of the Interior."
"Sums payable to living enrollees age eighteen or older or to heirs or legatees of deceased enrollees age eighteen or older shall be paid directly to such persons. Sums payable to enrollees or their heirs or legatees who are under age eighteen or who are under legal disability other than minority shall be paid in accordance with such procedures, including the establishment of trusts, as the Secretary of the Interior determines appropriate to protect the best interests of such persons."
So defined, Cherokee Delawares eligible to share in the distribution must necessarily be members of the tribal entity as presently constituted. Absentee Delawares eligible to share m the award, on the other hand, are defined somewhat more broadly, so that some nonmembers of the tribe are eligible under the statute.
Appellees also filed an appeal from the District Court judgment which is pending as Weeks v. Andrus, No. 75-1328. Their complaint asserted that 25 U.S.C. §§ 1181-1186 (relating to the 1818 treaty) and §§ 1291-1297 (1970 ed., Supp. V) (relating to the 1854 treaty) violated the Fifth Amendment's Due Process and Just Compensation Clauses; §§ 1181-1186 because the Cherokee Delaware class was wrongfully included in the proposed distribution under that statute; and §§ 1291-1297 because the Kansas Delaware class was wrongfully excluded and the Cherokee and Absentee Delaware classes wrongfully included in that statute's distribution. The District Court held that neither statute was unconstitutional by reason of the inclusion of the Cherokee Delaware and the Absentee Delaware classes. It is from this aspect of the District Court's decision that the appeal in No. 75-1328 is taken. In light of today's decision, the judgment of the District Court in that respect is affirmed.
82 Stat. 861, 25 U.S.C. §§ 1181-1186. The constitutionality of this statute was also challenged by appellees in the District Court. See n 16, supra.
Hearings on H.R. 5200 before the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. (Mar. 13, 197) (unpublished); Hearings on H.R. 5200, H.R. 14267 before the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. (May 8, 1972) (unpublished); Hearings on H. R 14267, H.R. 5200 before the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. (May 10, 1972) (unpublished); Hearings on S. 3113, S. 1067, S. 2249 and S. 2298 before the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Senate Committee of Interior and Insular Affairs, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., 60 et seq. (July 21, 1972) (unpublished).
It seems apparent from the Senate and House Reports accompanying the bill that was eventually enacted that Congress was not made aware of the Kansas Delawares' existence, for the Reports state that the beneficiaries of the distribution will be the "[l]iving descendants of members of the Delaware Tribe as it existed in 1854." S.Rep. No. 92-1126, p. 6 (1972); H.R.Rep. No. 9181, p. 6 (1972).
The congressional decision to distribute funds only to individuals who were members of, or clearly identified with, specific tribes has precedent in other similar statutes. See, e.g., 25 U.S.C. §§ 565-565g (Klamath); 25 U.S.C. §§ 581-590c (1970 ed., Supp. V) (Shoshone and Shoshone-Bannock); 25 U.S.C. §§ 1071-1073 (1970 ed. and Supp. V) (Confederated Colville); 25 U.S.C. §§ 1161-1167 (1970 ed. and Supp. V) (Cheyenne-Arapaho); 25 U.S.C. §§ 1191-1195 (Confederated Umatilla); 25 U.S.C. §§ 1261-1265 (1970 ed., Supp. V) (Blackfeet and Gros Ventre); 25 U.S.C. §§ 1300b-1300b-5 (1970 ed., Supp. V) (Kickapoo); 25 U.S.C. §§ 1300c-1300c-5 (1970 ed., Supp. V) (Yankton Sioux); 25 U.S.C. §§ 1300e-1300e-7 (1970 ed., Supp. V) (Assiniboine).
MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN, with whom THE CHIF JUSTICE joins, concurring in part and concurring in the result.
distinguished" the Kansas Delawares from the Cherokee Delawares in distributing tribal awards, when in fact both participated in the 1968 allocation that Congress authorized for the Delawares. The third justification -- administrative convenience in eliminating the catchall clause -- may have some weight. But, as the opinion acknowledges, ante at 430 U. S. 88-89, there was no problem with the Kansas Delawares in the distribution of the 1968 award; the administrative difficulty was only with the Munsees.
that the 1854 treat had been breached in 1856 and 1857 when the United States disposed of the tribal lands in Kansas by private, not public, sale for about half their fair value. The opinion accompanying the judgment of the Commission reiterated that the named plaintiffs "were entitled jointly to represent the entire Delaware Tribe," Absentee Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma v. United States, 21 Ind.Cl.Comm. 344, 345 (1969). Thereafter, Congress appropriated the amount required by the judgment, 83 Stat. 447, 453, and adopted the distribution statute at issue here, which was intended to satisfy that judgment, 25 U.S.C. §§ 1291-1297 (1970 ed., Supp. V).
of the Kansas Delawares advanced by the majority merely emphasizes the lack of any rational explanation for the legislative malfunction because each of the justifications would, if valid, require a different classification.
Third, it is said that the amendment excluding the Kansas Delawares from the award is valid because (a) it was intended to exclude the Munsees, and (b) there were valid reasons for excluding the Munsees. The Munsees were the object of special legislative concern because the processing of their claims under a 1968 distribution statute had created administrative burdens and delay. They were properly excluded because their ancestors were not members of the tribe when the wrong occurred. Neither of these reasons has any relevance to the Kansas Delawares. They are admittedly lineal descendants of victims of the wrong, and they had shared in the 1968 award in such an orderly manner that Congress was not even aware of their separate status. It is thus ironic -- perhaps even perverse -- to justify the special treatment of the Kansas Delawares by including them in a class whose other members were properly excluded from the award for reasons which have no application whatsoever to the Kansas Delawares. Because the Kansas Delawares were so administratively inoffensive that they literally became invisible, they will fail to share in the distribution as a result of a decision to avoid administrative difficulty.
The statutory exclusion of the Kansas Delawares from any share in the fund appropriated to pay a judgment in favor of a class to which they belong is manifestly unjust and arbitrary. Neither the actual explanation nor any of the hypothetical explanations is "tied rationally to the fulfillment of Congress' unique obligation toward the Indians." But, having said all this, I must confront the ultimate question whether the statute is therefore unconstitutional.
Improbable as the possibility seems, I am not prepared to say that, if Congress had actually reviewed the status of the Kansas Delawares, it might not have found some principled basis for treating them differently from other Delawares. And it is clear that the discrimination, far from evidencing actual discriminatory intent, is the consequence of a legislative accident, perhaps caused by nothing more than the unfortunate fact that Congress is too busy to do all of its work as carefully as it should. I must also acknowledge that Congress followed accepted legislative procedures in enacting the statute. Finally, I am most reluctant to suggest that the constitutionality of legislation should turn on the actual motivation, or the lack thereof, of the legislators who participated in the legislative process. Perhaps, therefore, the Court is following a wise course in declining to intervene in an area where the greatest deference is due Congress.
Aff'd as to parties, 130 Ct.Cl. 782, 128 F.Supp. 391 (1955). The Commission relied on a contemporaneous holding of the Court of Claims to the same effect, McGhee v. Creek Nation, 122 Ct.Cl. 380, 388, 392, 396 (1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 856. That court, charged by statute with interpreting the Indian Claims Commission Act and reviewing the actions of the Commission, 25 U.S.C. § 70s, continues to adhere to this view: "[T]he ancestral group owns' the claim, and present-day Indian groups are before the Commission only on behalf of the ancestral entity." Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. United States, 203 Ct.Cl. 426, 458, 490 F.2d 935, 954 (1974).
"There is evidence in our record that at least some of the Cherokee and Absentee Delawares, themselves, were unaware of the existence of the Kansas Delawares at the time they testified before Congress. Mr. Townsend, the chairman of the Delaware Tribal Business Committee (Cherokee Delaware) and one of the principal witnesses before Congress urging the adoption of a distribution scheme utilizing only the 1906 and 1940 rolls, testified in the course of this litigation that he was unaware of the existence of the Kansas Delawares. . . ."
Weeks v. United States, 406 F.Supp. 1309, 1331 n. 29 (WD Okla.1975).
"[T]he Congress was specifically requested by the Absentee Delawares and the Cherokee Delawares to delete the catchall provision [under which respondents would have claimed], and that Congress made the decision in response to the urging of those groups. On the record before us, we find that neither Congress nor its committees were made aware that the limitation . . . would exclude a group which had lived on the Kansas Delaware lands and which could trace their Delaware descendancy as the Kansas Delawares do. Instead, the focus was on the Munsee Indian groups, including the Christian Indians, and paramount consideration was given to the Munsee situation in considering the proposed change in the distribution statute."
". . . It is disturbing that the Congress was apparently not aware of the Kansas Delaware group, and we are persuaded that it was not the intent of Congress to exclude a group such as the Kansas Delawares from the distribution."
In view of these undisputed findings. it is also disturbing that the majority refers to a congressional "decision" to exclude the Kansas Delawares, ante at 430 U. S. 86.
"On the fulfillment by the Delawares of the foregoing stipulations, all the members of the tribe registered as above provided shall become members of the Cherokee Nation, with the same rights and immunities and the same participation (and no other) in the national funds as native Cherokees, save as hereinbefore provided."
"And the children hereafter born of such Delawares so incorporated into the Cherokee Nation, shall in all respects be regarded as native Cherokees."
Id. at 155 U. S. 202.
Aspects of the status of the Cherokee Delawares were adjudicated in Journeycake and in Delaware Indians v. Cherokee Nation, 193 U. S. 127. To be sure, the Cherokee Delawares have recently reconstituted themselves as a recognized Indian tribe. This did not occur, however, until 1974, two years after Congress acted on the legislation in question.
A person must have at least one-eighth Delaware blood in order to be recognized as a member of the Absentee Delaware Tribe. No such limitation exists as to the Absentee section of the distribution statute, 25 U.S.C. 1292(c)(2) (1970 ed., Supp. V). Weeks v. United States, 406 F.Supp. 1309, 1339 n. 40.
"entitled to receive a patent in fee-simple, with power of alienation, for the land heretofore allotted to him, and his just proportion, in cash or in bonds, of the cash value of the credits of said tribe, principal and interest, then held in trust by the United States. . . ."
The 1866 treaty was plainly intended to give the Kansas Delawares their proportionate interest in the proceeds of the sales made pursuant to the 1854 treaty. It is true that those proceeds were only about half as large as they would have been if the United States had fulfilled its treaty obligation, and I recognize that the unknown claim for the balance of the fair value of the tribal land was not technically "then held in trust by the United States." But surely it was the intention of the parties to the 1866 treaty to give the Kansas Delawares their fair share of the credits which should have been on the books as a result of the sale of tribal property, as well as their share of the actual credits. See the discussion below, 406 F.Supp. at 1337 n. 39, and accompanying text.
The more relevant precedent is the 1968 statute distributing the proceeds of the award based on the breach of the 1818 treaty, ante at 430 U. S. 88. All Delawares, including the Kansas Delawares, who traced their ancestry to membership in the tribe in 1818, participated in that award. That award, like this one, but unlike the 1904 appropriation, was in satisfaction of an Indian Claims Commission judgment. Thus, the more recent and more relevant congressional precedent supports inclusion of the Kansas Delawares, not exclusion.
The fact that the legislative action under review is the culmination of a quasi-judicial proceeding brought on behalf of the entire class distinguishes this legislation from policy decisions of general applicability. Cf. Eastlake v. Forest City Enterprises, Inc., 426 U. S. 66, 426 U. S. 680 (1976) (STEVENS, J., dissenting). Moreover, "Congress' unique obligation toward the Indians,'" ante at 430 U. S. 85, surely includes a special responsibility to deal fairly with similarly situated Indians.
Cf. Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U. S. 67, 426 U. S. 82-84; Cf. Louisville Gas Co. v. Coleman, 277 U. S. 32, 277 U. S. 41 (Holmes, J., dissenting).
See Mathews v. Lucas, 427 U. S. 495, 427 U. S. 516; Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U. S. 636, 420 U. S. 648 n. 16; Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U. S. 603, 363 U. S. 611; cf. McDonald v. Board of Election Comm'rs, 394 U. S. 802, 394 U. S. 809; Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, 369 U. S. 226; Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U. S. 412, 253 U. S. 415-416.
Although I am indebted to Professor Linde for the phrase, I cannot fairly claim that my conclusion is compelled by the analysis in his illuminating article, Due Process of Lawmaking, 55 Neb.L.Rev.197 (1976).

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