$17.5 million with 5 percent interest totaling $105 million. However, the victory was short lived. The Indians residing in the Black Hills feared the notion that if they accept the award their land would be officially sold. This led many Sioux to believe that they would lose their land, culture and identity. Furthermore, the two lawyers continued to work with the government to provide the tribe with just compensation for violating the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In September 1979, Sonosky and Lazarus offered the tribe $44 million as a settlement for the violation in 1868, but were met with hostility. On October 17, 1979, Solicitor General Wade McCree of the Justice Department sent an appeal to the United States Supreme Court over the initial ruling by the Court of Claims and on November 21, 1979, the Supreme Court set a date to review the claim and on December 10, the appeal was granted. The Supreme Court case United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians was argued on March 24, 1980. On June 30, 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 majority to uphold the United States Court of Claims’ initial ruling, awarding the Sioux nation $106 million, which resulted in the largest sum ever given to an Indian tribe for illegally seized territory. Post Black Hills In 1991 Lazarus retired from Fried, Frank, which was closing its Indian law practice while expanding further into lucrative work in Mergers and Acquisitions. Shortly afterwards he became “of counsel” at Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, & Endreson, a law firm specializing in Indian Law. He retired in July 2011. References External links The Arthur Lazarus Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University 1926 births 2019 deaths American civil rights lawyers People associated with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson Columbia College (New York) alumni Yale Law School alumni People from Brooklyn Conscientious objectors Poly Prep alumni