In the case of Creek Nation v. United States in 1961, the Supreme Court ruled on a dispute over land rights between the Creek Nation and the U.S. government. The issue at hand was whether certain lands within Oklahoma were part of a reservation granted to the Creeks by Congress or if they were public lands owned by the federal government. The court found that these lands had been reserved for use by Native Americans under an 1866 treaty with Congress, which meant that they could not be considered public domain open to settlement by non-Native individuals without specific congressional authorization. Therefore, any sales or leases made without such approval would be invalid and constitute trespassing on tribal property rights protected under federal law.

In the dissenting opinion for Creek Nation v. United States, Justice Whittaker argued that the majority's decision was inconsistent with previous rulings and interpretations of relevant treaties. He contended that the Creek Nation had been granted full sovereignty over their lands by Congress in 1906, which included rights to minerals beneath those lands. The government's subsequent leasing of these mineral rights without consent from or compensation to the tribe constituted a breach of trust according to Whittaker. He also disagreed with the majority’s interpretation of “proceeds” under Section 2 of House Resolution 3113 as excluding oil and gas royalties; he believed it should include all revenues derived from tribal land regardless if they were generated before or after passage of this resolution in March 1945.