For Native nations seeking redress from the federal government for treaty violations, this doctrine was an absolute barrier.

You could not take your claim to a court that had no jurisdiction to hear it.

The legislative history of the Black Hills claim is a story of finding narrow openings in that barrier, being denied, watching those denials be overturned, and starting again.

The Sioux Nation began seeking legal redress almost immediately after 1877.

By 1920, Congress had passed special legislation allowing specific claims against the government, and the Sioux filed suit.

The Court of Claims, however, dismissed the case in 1942.