Indians — trust property — standing

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U.S. Supreme Court

Civil

Indians — trust property — standing

Property owners have standing to contest the Secretary of the Interior’s acquisition of property into trust for an Indian tribe.

Patchak has prudential standing to challenge the Secretary’s acquisition. A person suing under the APA must assert an interest that is “arguably within the zone of interests to be protected or regulated by the statute” that he says was violated. Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U. S. 150, 153. The Government and Band claim that Patchak’s economic, environmental, and aesthetic injuries are not within §465’s zone of interests 3 Cite as: 567 U. S. ____ (2012) because the statute focuses on land acquisition, while Patchak’s injuries relate to the land’s use as a casino. However, §465 has far more to do with land use than the Government and Band acknowledge. Section 465 is the capstone of the IRA’s land provisions, and functions as a primary mechanism to foster Indian tribes’ economic development. The Secretary thus takes title to properties with an eye toward how tribes will use those lands to support such development. The Department’s regulations make this statutory concern with land use clear, requiring the Secretary to acquire land with its eventual use in mind, after assessing potential conflicts that use might create. And because §465 encompasses land’s use, neighbors to the use (like Patchak) are reasonable — indeed, predictable — challengers of the Secretary’s decisions: Their interests, whether economic, environmental, or aesthetic, come within §465’s regulatory ambit.

632 F. 3d 702, affirmed and remanded.

11-246 Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak

Kagan, J.; Sotomayor, J., dissenting.