Editor
Ed J. Hermes[1] Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. |
§ 9.1. Tribal Litigation & the Third Sovereign
We have been writing this annual update of cases relevant to tribal litigation for many years. Recognizing that the average practitioner consulting this volume may not have much experience with federal Indian law, we have endeavored to provide historical context and citation to most relevant circuit and even district court cases in every volume. To target primarily those cases decided within the last year, this chapter focuses on cases decided between October 1, 2023, and October 1, 2024. The chapter begins with a Supreme Court overview and then is structured around sovereigns—Indian Tribes, the United States, and the fifty sister States.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has aptly referred to tribal governments as the “third sovereign” within the United States.[2] Much like federal and state governments, tribal governments are elaborate entities often consisting of executive, legislative, and judicial branches.[3] Tribes are typically governed pursuant to a federal treaty, presidential executive order, tribal constitution and bylaws, and/or tribal code of laws, implemented by an executive authority such as a tribal chairperson, governor, chief, or president (similar to the United States’ president or a state’s governor) and a tribal council or senate (the legislative body). Tribal courts adjudicate most matters arising from their reservations or under tribal law.[4]
Indian tribes are “distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights” in matters of local self-government.[5] Thus, state laws generally “have no force” in Indian Country.[6] While in the eyes of federal and state government, tribes no longer possess “the full attributes of sovereignty,” they remain a “separate people, with the power of regulating their internal and social relations.”[7]
This chapter explores the repose of tribal sovereignty, federal plenary oversight of that sovereignty, and perennial state encroachment upon that sovereignty. Federal trial and appellate courts issue more than 650 written opinions in cases dealing with Indian law each year,[8] and settle, dismiss, or resolve without opinion countless others. This chapter introduces those cases most relevant to a business litigation focused audience.
§ 9.2. Indian Law & the Supreme Court
§ 9.2.1. The 2023–2024 Term
The U.S. Supreme Court hears an average of between one and three new Indian law cases every year.[9] During the 2023–2024 term, the Supreme Court decided one Indian law case.
Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, 144 S. Ct. 1428 (2024).
In a 5–4 decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court in Becerra held that the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (“ISDEA”) requires the Indian Health Service (“IHS”) to pay the contract support costs that a tribe incurs when it collects and spends program income—i.e., revenue from third party payers like Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers—to further the functions, services, activities, and programs transferred to it from IHS in a self contract.
The ISDEA gives Native American tribes the option to enter into a contract with the IHS to run their own health-care programs, which IHS would otherwise have to …
