Indians – IGRA — sovereign immunity

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U.S. Supreme Court

Civil

Indians – IGRA — sovereign immunity

A state cannot sue an Indian tribe for operating a casino on non-tribal land.

IGRA’s plain terms do not authorize this suit. Section 2710(d)(7)(A)(ii) partially abrogates tribal immunity with respect to class III gaming located “on Indian lands,” but the very premise of Michigan’s suit is that Bay Mills’ casino is unlawful because it is outside Indian lands. Michigan argues that the casino is authorized, licensed, and operated from within the reservation, and that such administrative action constitutes “class III gaming activity.” However, numerous other IGRA provisions make clear that “class III gaming activity” refers to the gambling that goes on in a casino, not the offsite licensing of such games. See, e.g., §§2710(d)(3)(C)(i), (d)(9). IGRA’s history and design also explain why Congress would have authorized a State to enjoin illegal tribal gaming on Indian lands but not on lands subject to the State’s own sovereign jurisdiction. Congress adopted IGRA in response to California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U. S. 202, 221–222, which held that States lacked regulatory authority over gaming on Indian lands but left intact States’ regulatory power over tribal gaming outside Indian territory. A State therefore has many tools to enforce its law on state land that it does not possess in Indian territory, including, e.g., bringing a civil or criminal action against tribal officials rather than the tribe itself for conducting illegal gaming. A State can also use its leverage in negotiating an IGRA compact to bargain for a waiver of the tribe’s immunity.

695 F. 3d 406, affirmed and remanded.

12-515 Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community

Kagan, J.; Sotomayor, J., concurring; Scalia, J., dissenting; Thomas, j., dissenting; Ginsburg, J., dissenting.