For that reason, the terms of a tribal-state compact for Class III gaming have no effect on a tribe's sovereignty over issues like taxes, roads, housing, water, minerals, fishing, timber rights, membership, exemptions or other internal government issues. Pala exercised its sovereignty in the way its people have chosen. If other tribes choose a different path in their negotiations, this is their sovereign right. If a tribe chooses to reach agreements with other governments, it is using its sovereignty. If a tribe chooses not to reach agreements with other governments, it also is using its sovereignty.
Sovereignty means each tribe has the right to choose what it wants to do.
Each tribe has the right to make its own choice without another tribe taking that choice away, for example, by encouraging the Secretary of the Interior or the state Legislature to disapprove Pala's compact. What the U.S. Attorneys do or don't do to enforce federal law on slot machines has nothing to do with Pala's choice to enter into a compact with the state. The U.S. Attorneys have made clear they will make enforcement decisions without regard to the status of the Pala Compact, the secretary's approval or the governor's authority.