STANDING BEAR WAS ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO GO HOME – THEN HIS CASE FORCED A U.S. COURT TO DECIDE IF A NATIVE MAN WAS A “PERSON”
For the government, the answer could not simply be “because he is an Indian and the department ordered it.”
At least, that was what the lawyers intended to test.
But before reaching the merits of the detention, federal prosecutors raised an argument that would give the case its enduring historical significance.
They challenged Standing Bear’s ability to seek the writ at all.
THE GOVERNMENT’S DEFENSE EXPOSED THE CONTRADICTION
To modern readers, the phrase most often associated with Standing Bear’s case can sound almost too crude to be real: “an Indian is a person.”
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