25 U.S.C. § 478
Section 478 · Acceptance optional
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 24 court decisions — leading case United States v. John (1978)
Most recently applied in Upstate Citizens for Equality, Inc. v. United States (November 2016)
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.
This Act shall not apply to any reservation wherein a majority of the adult Indians, voting at a special election duly called by the Secretary of the Interior, shall vote against its application. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior, within one year after June 18, 1934, to call such an election, which election shall be held by secret ballot upon thirty days’ notice.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This Act, referred to in text, is act June 18, 1934, which is classified generally to this subchapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 461 of this title and Tables.
Extensions of Time
The time for holding an election under this section was extended to June 18, 1936, by act June 15, 1935, ch. 260, §2, 49 Stat. 378.
Act June 15, 1935, ch. 260, §3, 49 Stat. 378, provided that the periods of trust or the restrictions on alienation of Indian lands should be extended to Dec. 31, 1936, in case of a vote against the application of sections 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466 to 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476 to 478, and 479 of this title.
Cross References
Right-of-way grant, consent of tribal officials, see section 324 of this title.