Ex parte Joins facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ex parte Joins |
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| Argued October 19, 1903 Decided November 9, 1903 |
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| Full case name | Ex parte Joins |
| Citations | 191 U.S. 93 (more)
24 S. Ct. 27; 48 L. Ed. 110
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| Holding | |
| Held that a request for a writ of prohibition was moot, as the lower court case had already been completed prior to the petition being heard at the Supreme Court. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Holmes, joined unanimously |
| Laws applied | |
| 32 Stat. 641 | |
Ex parte Joins, 191 U.S. 93 (1903), was an important case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1903. The Court decided that it was too late to stop a lower court's action because that court had already finished its work. This legal idea is called "mootness," meaning the issue is no longer relevant for the court to decide.
Contents
The Story Behind the Case
Land for Native American Tribes
Back in 1893, the United States Congress created something called the Dawes Commission. Its job was to divide up land that belonged to five Native American tribes. These tribes were known as the Five Civilized Tribes. Before this, the land was owned by the whole tribe together. The commission wanted to give individual tribal members their own sections of land.
Challenges to Land Division
The tribes did not agree with this plan. So, in 1896, Congress gave the Dawes Commission more power. The commission could now decide who was a member of a tribe. They would then give land to these members based on lists they made. If someone disagreed with the commission's decision, they could appeal to a special court. This court was the United States district court for the Indian Territory. The court's decision was final.
New Courts and Appeals
The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes made their own lists of members. They gave these lists to the commission. After hearing arguments, the commission added 2,075 people to the official lists. This was out of about 75,000 people who applied. At this point, arguments about tribal citizenship moved to federal courts.
By 1902, Congress tried to fix the situation. They created a new court called the Choctaw and Chickasaw Citizenship Court. This court was set up to handle citizenship questions for the tribes. It also had the power to cancel decisions made by the district courts. The new court immediately started to do this.
Joins Seeks to Stop the Court
One person, named Joins, was involved in these land claims. Joins asked for a special legal order called a writ of prohibition. This order would stop the new Citizenship Court from hearing any cases. The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear Joins's request.
The Supreme Court's Decision
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote the opinion for the Supreme Court. He explained that the Citizenship Court had already finished its work on the case. Because of this, a writ of prohibition could not be issued. It was simply too late to stop something that had already happened. Therefore, the Supreme Court dismissed Joins's request.
