Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832) was a watershed on federal policy law, It is considered to have built the foundations of the doctrine of tribal sovereignty in the United States.
According to the decision, the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional. It was established then that Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers. Unfortunately, Worcester did not aid indigenous rights at the time and could not have stopped the forced migration of Indians via the Trail of Tears.