Congress Passes Legislation Granting Court of Federal Claims Jurisdiction Over Miami Tribe's Land Claim

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September 14, 2026:

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Bill S. 550, today passed the United States House of Representatives and now heads to the President’s desk for final signature.

The bill means the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma can now bring suit in the Court of Federal Claims for the taking of 2.6 million acres of land in Illinois that was protected by the terms of the 1805 Treaty of Grouseland.

The new law, which was originally introduced by then-Senator Markwayne Mullin and sponsored by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), also gives local landowners in Illinois clear titles to their property by extinguishing previous land claims.

"The Miami Nation—past, present, and future—thank Chairman Cole and Secretary Mullin for making this bill a reality,” said Chief Doug Lankford of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. "They are warriors for Indian Country and for all people who seek justice.”

The legislation, authored by then Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Tom Cole (R-OK) and Betty McCollum (D-MN), was first introduced in 2017, and reintroduced in 2019 and 2021.

“We are humbled by all their work for our members but importantly for our ancestors who negotiated these rights during a time of unbelievable pressure and change,” Lankford said. “Chairman Cole, Secretary Mullin and our allies did not forget their sacrifice, and today Congress is finally vindicating their visionary foresight in protecting the Tribe’s lands.”

Lankford also said Tom Bost (R-Illinois) deserves special recognition for his work, noting that the law will be an “enormous” benefit to his constituents.

In 1805, the Miami Tribe, Eel River Band, and Wea signed the Treaty of Grouseland, which reserved all lands within the Wabash River watershed and land located west of the Wabash River, property that is in present-day Illinois. From 1805 to 1840, the United States transferred 2.6 million acres of this land to non-native settlers without having acquired title from the tribes. As a result, title to that land is still held by the Miami Tribe’s superior claim to title and the Tribe never consented to that land being purchased.

The new law will allow the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to have its rightful day in court, and extinguish all claims to this land in Illinois. It will remedy the mistake made by the federal government nearly two centuries ago by resolving the land claim and providing finality and certainty to both the Tribe and the landowners in Illinois.

The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Indian tribe. Its ancestral homelands are located south of the Great Lakes, in what are now the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.

In 1846, the Tribe was removed from its homelands to what is now the state of Kansas, and in 1867 was again removed from Kansas to the Indian Territory, now the State of Oklahoma.

Its seat of government is located in Ottawa County in Northeast Oklahoma.

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