In Atakapa Indian de Creole Nation v. Louisiana, the Fifth Circuit clarified that federal jurisdiction does not extend to other galaxies. Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote the opinion, joined by Chief Judge Priscilla Owen and Senior Judge Rhesa Barksdale. Nos. 19-30032 & 19-30065 (Dec. 10, 2019).
The plaintiff, who referred to himself as “God of the Earth Realm” and “Trust Protector of the American Indian Tribe of משֶׁ ה Moses,” alleged that the “Atakapa Indian de Creole Nation” was wrongfully held in “pupilage” by the United States and as “wards” by the State of Louisiana. Plaintiff based his standing on his descent from “Jupiter,” the last Chief Captain of the western part of the Nation.
The plight of the Atakapa (which, the Fifth Circuit observed, is not in fact a recognized Indian tribe) arose because “the 1803 Louisiana Purchase Treaty is not ‘Law of the Land’.” The plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment to void that treaty and thus restore the Nation’s rights as “guaranteed . . . by the 1795 Spanish Treaty with the Catholic Majesty of Spain and the 1800 French Treaty with the former Christian Majesty of France.”
The Atakapa’s difficulties were alleged to have worsened over time as part of an overall failure of society to “restrain[] the Doctrine of Discovery and the Doctrine of Conquest.” The result was a conspiracy to “monopolize[e] … domestic, international and intergalactic markets,” which reached the highest levels of the governments of Egypt, Liberia, and Portugal, among other countries.
Unfortunately for the Atakapa Nation and the descendants of Jupiter, the Fifth Circuit concluded that “the plaintiff’s claims are frivolous and the district court therefore lacked jurisdiction to entertain them.” The Court did not address whether an alternative forum would be available in the courts of Mars or Venus, or in an arbitration conducted under the rules of the United Federation of Planets.
David Coale is an appellate partner at Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst in Dallas.