Babbitt v. Youpee

Facts

In the nineteenth century, Congress allotted communal tribal property to individual tribe members. This resulted in an extreme fractionation problem which only got worse as time went on. In 1983, Congress created the Indian Land Consolidation Act (Act) in an attempt to solve the problem. An escheat provision in the Act, Section:207, provided that certain small interests in land would revert to the tribe upon the death of the owner, but did not compensate the owner for the loss of land. Section 207 was held unconstitutional, so Congress amended the provision, which differs from the original in three ways: it looks back five years instead of one to determine the income produced from a small interest, and creates a rebuttable presumption that this income stream will continue; it permits devise of otherwise escheatable interests to persons who already own an interest in the same parcel; and it authorizes tribes to develop their own codes governing the disposition of fractional interests. William Youpee, a Native American, devised his land to Respondents. The Department of Interior (Plaintiff) found that the interest in land fell under the amended Section: 207 and so should revert the tribe. Respondents claim the amended section violates the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment.