page_title: Washington State Dept. of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc.
section_title: Opinion of the Court
hierarchical_section_title: Washington State Dept. of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc. / Supreme Court / Opinion of the Court
caption_attribution_description: Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court judge.
context_page_description: Washington State Dep't of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc., 586 U.S. ___, was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Yakama Nation Treaty of 1855 preempts the state law which the State purported to be able to tax fuel purchased by a tribal corporation for sale to tribal members. This was a 5-4 plurality decision, with Justice Breyer's opinion being joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan. Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Ginsburg, penned a concurring opinion. There were dissenting opinions by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh.
context_section_description: The opinion of the Court was delivered by Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Justice Breyer noted that the Washington tax was not a tax on possession or the importation of fuel, only on the ground transportation of fuel. Therefore, the "State must prove that Cougar Den traveled by highway in order to apply its tax." He observed that Washington had amended its fuel taxation scheme, after a U.S. District Court had barred the State from taxing fuel on the tribal reservation. In addition, Breyer noted that the tribe, at the time they agreed to the treaty, would have understood that they had the "right to travel on the public highways included the right to travel with goods for purposes of trade." Since the tax placed a burden on the right of the tribe to travel on the highway with goods, the state law was preempted by the treaty, and the lower decision was affirmed.
caption: Justice Stephen Breyer, author of the opinion
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