In the 1898 case of US and Comanche Indians v. Hood, the United States Supreme Court ruled on a dispute over land ownership in Oklahoma. The Comanche tribe had been granted reservation lands by treaty with the U.S., but later sold portions to non-Indigenous settlers under an agreement that was approved by Congress. One such settler, Hood, purchased land from individual tribal members who claimed they had received it as part of their share when communal tribal lands were divided among them individually. However, this division was not officially recognized or sanctioned by federal authorities. The court held that these sales were invalid because Indian tribes did not have authority to sell reservation lands without federal approval; only Congress could extinguish Indian title to such lands through purchase or conquest. Therefore, any deeds issued by individual tribe members for sale of their purported shares in communal tribal property were void and conferred no rights upon purchasers like Hood. This decision reaffirmed principles established in earlier cases: namely that Indigenous peoples' right to occupy their traditional territories is a collective one held at the level of entire tribes rather than individuals within those tribes; and that this right can be abrogated only through actions taken directly by the U.S government itself.

The dissenting opinion in the case of US and Comanche Indians v. Hood argued that the government had not fulfilled its obligations to protect Native American lands from encroachment by white settlers. The justice believed that the treaty between the U.S. government and Comanche Indians was clear in its intent to provide a secure homeland for these tribes, free from interference or intrusion by non-Native peoples. He contended that allowing settlers to claim land within this territory violated both the letter and spirit of this agreement, undermining tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Furthermore, he asserted that such actions were indicative of broader patterns of injustice towards Native Americans on behalf of federal authorities, who often prioritized settler expansion over indigenous rights.