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4 

YELLEN v. CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF CHEHALIS 
RESERVATION 
Opinion of the Court 

Alaska  Natives  were  instructed  to  “incorporate  under  the
laws of Alaska a Regional Corporation to conduct business
for  profit.”  §1606(d).  To  form  the  village  ANCs,  the  Act 
identified  approximately  200  Alaska  “Native  villages,”  a
term  encompassing  any  community  of  25  or  more  Alaska
Natives  living  together  as  of  the  1970  census.  §§1602(c),
1610(b), 1615(a).  For each Alaska Native village, ANCSA 
ordered the “Native residents” to create an accompanying
village corporation to “hold, invest, manage and/or distrib-
ute lands, property, funds, and other rights and assets for 
and on behalf ” of the village.  §§1602(j), 1607(a).  ANCSA 
then  directed  the  Secretary  to  prepare  a  roll  showing  the
region and, if applicable, village to which each living Alaska 
Native belonged.  §1604.  Enrolled Alaska Natives then re-
ceived shares in their respective ANCs.  §§1606(g), 1607. 

B 
In 1975, four years after ANCSA’s enactment, Congress
passed ISDA.  25 U. S. C. §5301 et seq.  ISDA answered the 
call for a “new national policy” of “autonomy” and “control” 
for Native Americans and Alaska Natives.  H. R. Doc. No. 
91–363,  p. 3  (1970);  see  also  Menominee  Tribe  of  Wis.  v. 
United States, 577 U. S. 250, 252 (2016) (“Congress enacted 
[ISDA] in 1975 to help Indian tribes assume responsibility 
for aid programs that benefit their members”). 

ISDA decentralized the provision of federal Indian bene-
fits away from the Federal Government and toward Native
American  and  Alaska  Native  organizations.   ISDA  allows 
any “Indian tribe” to request that the Secretary of the Inte-
rior enter into a self-determination contract  with a  desig-
nated “tribal organization.”  §5321(a)(1).  Under such a con-
tract,  the  tribal  organization  delivers  federally  funded
economic,  infrastructure,  health,  or  education  benefits  to 
the tribe’s membership.

As originally drafted, ISDA’s “Indian tribe” definition did 
not mention ANCs.  H. R. 6372, 93d Cong., 1st Sess., §1(a)