Opinion
No. 8304.
Argued December 1, 1942.
Decided January 11, 1943.
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia.
Action by the Osage Tribe of Indians and Fred Lookout, Principal Chief and member of the Osage Tribe of Indians, on behalf of said tribe and the members thereof; against Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of Interior of the United States, and Tom H. Fraley, Secretary of Osage County, Pawhuska, Okla., for an injunction. From an order of dismissal, after a decision by three-judge statutory court, 45 F. Supp. 179, the plaintiffs appeal.
Affirmed.
Messrs. Thos. P. Gore and Leslie C. Garnett, both of Washington, D.C., for appellants.
Messrs. Roy St. Lewis, of Washington, D.C., and Chas. R. Gray, pro hac vice, of Pawhuska, Okla., by special leave of court, with whom Mr. Peter Q. Nyce, of Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellee Fraley.
Mr. Roger P. Marquis, Attorney, Department of Justice, of Washington, D.C., with whom Norman M. Littell, Assistant Attorney General, and Mr. Vernon L. Wilkinson, Attorney, Department of Justice, of Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellee Ickes.
Before GRONER, Chief Justice, and EDGERTON and RUTLEDGE, Associate Justices.
The Osage Tribe of Indians and its Principal Chief brought this suit to enjoin the Secretary of the Interior from paying to Osage County, Oklahoma, $1,535.70 out of royalties received from Osage Indian mineral leases. The complaint alleged that the Act of Congress authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to pay one per centum (1%) of oil and gas royalties for the construction of roads and bridges in Osage County, in accordance with which the sum in question was to be paid, was unconstitutional. A three judge court was constituted under the Act of August 24, 1937. After full argument on the whole case, the court held that the United States was an indispensable party and therefore remitted the case to one of its members as Judge of the District Court for appropriate action. The case was dismissed on a previously filed motion of the Secretary and the appeal from the order of dismissal followed.
Act of March 3, 1921, 41 Stat. 1249.
50 Stat. 752, 28 U.S.C.A. § 380a.
We think that the decision of the statutory court was in all respects correct, and on its opinion (Osage Tribe v. Ickes, D.C., 45 F. Supp. 179), we affirm the order of the District Court dismissing the suit.
Affirmed.