s, of the United States, and the decision
is in favor of such their validity; or where is drawn in question the
construction of any clause of the constitution, or of a treaty, or
statute of, or commission held under, the United States, and the
decision is against the title, right, privilege, or exemption,
specially set up or claimed by either party, under such clause of the
said constitution, treaty, statute, or commission."

The indictment and plea, in this case, draw in question, we think, the
validity of the treaties made by the United States with the Cherokee
Indians: if not so, their construction is certainly drawn in question;
and the decision has been, if not against their validity, "against the
right, privilege, or exemption, specially set up and claimed under
them." They also draw into question the validity of a statute of the
State of Georgia, "on the ground of its being repugnant to the
constitution, treaties, and laws, of the United States, and the
decision is in favor of its validity."

It is, then, we think, too clear for controversy, that the act of
Congress, by which this court is constituted, has given it the power,
and, of course, imposed on it the duty, of exercising jurisdiction in
this case. This duty, however unpleasant, cannot be avoided. Those who
fill the Judicial Department have no discretion in selecting the
subjects to be brought before them. We must examine the defence set up
in this plea. We must inquire and decide whether the act of the
Legislature of Georgia, under which the plaintiff in error has been
prosecuted and condemned, be consistent with, or repugnant to, the
constitution, laws, and treaties, of the United States.

It has been said at the bar, that the acts of the Legislature of
Georgia seize on the whole Cherokee country, parcel it out among the
neighboring counties of the State, extend her code over the whole
country, abolish its institutions and its laws, and annihilate its
political existence.

If this be the general effect of the system, let us inquire into the
effect of the particular statute and section on which the indictment is
founded.

It enacts that "all white persons, residing within the limits of the
Cherokee nation on the first day of March next, or at any time
thereafter, without a licence or permit from his Excellency the
Governor, or from such agent as his Excellency the Governor shall
authorize to grant such permit or licence, and who shall not have taken