Ex parte Crow Dog is an 1883 decision by the Supreme Court of the
United States that followed the death of one member of a Native American
tribe at the hands of another on reservation land. Crow Dog (pictured)
was a member of the Brulé band of the Lakota Sioux. On August 5, 1881,
he shot and killed Spotted Tail, a Lakota chief; there are different
accounts of the background to the killing. The tribal council dealt with
the incident according to Sioux tradition, and Crow Dog paid restitution
to the dead man's family. However, the U.S. authorities then prosecuted
Crow Dog for murder in a federal court. He was found guilty and
sentenced to hang. The Supreme Court held that unless authorized by
Congress, federal courts had no jurisdiction to try cases where the
offense had already been tried by the tribal council, and so Crow Dog
was released. The case led to the Major Crimes Act in 1885, which placed
15 major crimes under federal jurisdiction if committed by an Indian
against another Indian on a reservation or tribal land. This case was
the beginning of the plenary power legal doctrine that has been used in
Indian case law to limit tribal sovereignty.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_parte_Crow_Dog>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1076:
Demetrius Zvonimir, the last native king who exerted any real
power over the entire Croatian state, was crowned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_Zvonimir_of_Croatia>
1871:
Four large fires broke out in the United States, including the
Great Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin, the latter being
the deadliest fire in U.S. history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire>
1918:
World War I: After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during
the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American
Sergeant Alvin C. York led the seven remaining men on an attack against
a German machine gun nest, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York>
1967:
Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader Che Guevara was
captured near La Higuera, Bolivia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara>
2001:
At Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, Scandinavian Airlines Flight
SK686 collided on take-off with a Cessna Citation II business jet,
killing 118 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linate_Airport_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
choreography:
1. The art of creating, arranging and recording the dance movements of a
ballet, etc.
2. The representation of these movements by a series of symbols.
3. The notation used to construct this record.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/choreography>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
To know a thing well, know it limits. Only when pushed beyond its
tolerances will true nature be seen. Do not depend only on theory if
your life is at stake.
--Chapterhouse : Dune
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune.23hapterhouse:_Dune_.281985.29>