John Tyler, a citizen of Virginia and the President of the United States at the time, was appointed as trustee for orphan children provided for in an article of a treaty with the Choctaws. This trust was established to ensure that these orphans were taken care of and their needs met. Tyler's role as trustee required him to make sure that all funds allocated by Congress were used properly and distributed according to what had been agreed upon in this treaty. He also had to keep records on how these funds were being spent so they could be audited if necessary. In addition, he needed to provide any other assistance or support deemed necessary by Congress or those involved with this agreement between two nations.

John Tyler, a citizen of Virginia and the President of the United States at the time, was also acting as Trustee for orphan children provided for in an article of a treaty with Choctaws. In this capacity he brought suit against Martin Van Buren who had been his predecessor in office. The Supreme Court ruled that Tyler did not have standing to bring such a suit because he was no longer president when it was filed and therefore lacked authority to act on behalf of those orphans. Furthermore, they argued that even if he had still been president when filing the case, there were other legal remedies available which would render any action by him unnecessary or superfluous. Ultimately, they concluded that since Tyler could not demonstrate sufficient injury from Van Buren's actions nor show how his own involvement would be beneficial to resolving any dispute between them; his claim must fail due to lack of standing under Article III requirements.