The Sioux had been awarded compensation.

That compensation sat in a federal account, accumulating interest, uncollected.

And nothing had fundamentally changed.

The Black Hills remained in the possession of the United States and the State of South Dakota.

The national forest, the parks, the national monument at Mount Rushmore, the private landholdings that had developed over a century — all of it remained exactly as it had been before the Supreme Court spoke.

The legal victory had produced a judgment but not a resolution.