Babbitt v. Youpee

Babbitt v. Youpee
Argued December 6, 1996
Decided January 21, 1997
Full case nameBruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, et al. v. Marvin K. Youpee, Sr., et al.
Citations519 U.S. 234 (more)
117 S. Ct. 727; 136 L. Ed. 2d 696
Case history
PriorYoupee v. Babbitt, 857 F. Supp. 760 (D. Mont. 1994) aff'd, 67 F.3d 194 (9th Cir. 1995)
Holding
A provision which escheats property to tribe upon owner's death any fractional interest in allotment which constitutes less than two percent of the allotment and has not produced $100 in income over the past five years, unless it is devised or descends to owner of another fractional interest in the allotment, works an unconstitutional taking
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
MajorityGinsburg, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Breyer
DissentStevens
Laws applied
25 U.S.C. § 2206

Babbitt v. Youpee, 519 U.S. 234 (1997), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a provision which escheats property to tribe upon owner's death any fractional interest in allotment which constitutes less than two percent of the allotment and has not produced $100 in income over the past five years, unless it is devised or descends to owner of another fractional interest in the allotment, works an unconstitutional taking.