The Decision of the Court

The court found that the government was liable and a trust relationship did exist, monetary relief was ordered because of the breach of trust. Out of the 9 justices, 6 voted for the tribe and 3 voted against the tribe. The reason why they voted for the tribe is because the reasoning behind the Indian Mineral Lease Act is so the Secretary of the Interior would look after the tribe’s best interest. The IMLA established a relationship of trust between the government and the tribe, by acting in the interest of Peabody the government breached that trust. “Let there be no mistake. Notwithstanding the formal outcome of this decision, we find that the Secretary has indeed breached these basic fiduciary duties.” http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=Fed&navby=case&no=005086&exact=1

The remaining 3 justices stated that the tribe can’t prove that there was ever a fiduciary relationship because it was never expressed or enumerated so therefore there is no break of contract. As a result there should be no monetary relief granted to the tribe.