25 U.S.C. § 45
Section 45 · Preference to Indians qualified for duties
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Morton v. Mancari (1974)
Most recently applied in Tribe v. Sebelius (September 2011)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In all cases of the appointments of interpreters or other persons employed for the benefit of the Indians, a preference shall be given to persons of Indian descent, if such can be found, who are properly qualified for the execution of the duties.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §2069 derived from act June 30, 1834, ch. 162, §9, 4 Stat. 737.
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Cross References
Standards for Indians appointed to office, see section 472 of this title.