In the case of United States v. The Choctaw Nation and The Chickasaw Nation, 1903, the Supreme Court was tasked with resolving a dispute over land ownership between two Native American tribes and the U.S. government. This conflict originated from an 1830 treaty in which these tribes ceded their ancestral lands to the U.S., in exchange for new territory west of Mississippi River along with certain payments and benefits. However, ambiguity arose regarding whether coal deposits found on this new land were included within this agreement or not. The court ruled that under international law principles applied to treaties at that time, any ambiguities should be resolved in favor of indigenous peoples; hence it concluded that these mineral rights belonged to Choctaws and Chickasaws as they had never been explicitly relinquished by them nor claimed by US government during negotiations.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. The Choctaw Nation and The Chickasaw Nation, Justice Brewer argued that the majority's decision was inconsistent with previous rulings on similar cases involving Indian tribes. He contended that the government had a fiduciary responsibility to protect tribal lands from encroachment by settlers and other non-tribal entities, which it failed to do in this case. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority's interpretation of certain treaties between these nations and the U.S., arguing they were meant to guarantee tribal sovereignty over their lands rather than cede them entirely to federal control or private ownership. In his view, any ambiguities in these treaties should be resolved in favor of preserving tribal rights as per established legal principles regarding treaty interpretation.