In the 1946 case of Confederated Bands of Ute Indians v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Ute Indian tribes. The issue at hand was whether or not certain lands were included within a reservation established for these tribes by an executive order in 1865 and if they had been unlawfully taken from them without compensation by subsequent acts of Congress. The court held that these lands were indeed part of their original reservation and that they had been wrongfully deprived thereof without just compensation as required under Fifth Amendment rights to due process. This ruling affirmed that Native American tribal rights to land are protected under federal law and cannot be violated without proper legal procedures being followed, including fair payment for any seized territories.

In the dissenting opinion for Confederated Bands of Ute Indians v. United States, Justice Frank Murphy argued that the majority's decision was a misinterpretation of congressional intent and an injustice to the Ute Indians. He contended that Congress had intended to protect Indian lands from white settlers' encroachment when it passed legislation in 1868 and 1874. The Court's ruling, he believed, effectively nullified these protections by allowing land reserved for the tribes to be taken without compensation or consent. Furthermore, he criticized the majority’s reliance on technicalities rather than considering broader principles of justice and equity in their interpretation of treaties with Native American tribes. In his view, this approach undermined tribal sovereignty and violated long-standing federal policies toward indigenous peoples.