Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-543_3e04.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

8 

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

A 
Starting with the plain meaning, an “Indian tribe” under 
ISDA is a “tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or 
community, including any Alaska Native village or regional 
or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant 
to [ANCSA], which is recognized as eligible for the special 
programs and services provided by the United States to In-
dians  because  of  their  status  as  Indians.”    25  U. S. C. 
§5304(e).  The definition’s first two clauses are straightfor-
ward  enough.    The  first  lists  entities  that  might  count  as
Indian  tribes  under  the  Act  (e.g.,  tribes,  bands,  nations).
The second, “the Alaska clause,” makes clear that  Alaska 
Native villages and ANCs are “includ[ed].”  The third, “the 
recognized-as-eligible clause,” requires more analysis.  Ac-
cording  to  that  clause,  the  listed  entities  must  be  “recog-
nized as eligible for the special programs and services pro-
vided  by  the  United  States  to  Indians  because  of  their
status as Indians.” 

ANCs,  of  course,  are  “established  pursuant  to”  ANCSA 
within the meaning of the Alaska clause.  They are thereby
“recognized as eligible” for ANCSA’s benefits.  The trickier 
question  is  whether  eligibility  for  the  benefits  of  ANCSA 
counts as eligibility for “the special programs and services
provided by the United States to Indians because of their
status as Indians.” 

It  does.  Contrary  to  the  dissent’s  view,  post,  at  9–10 
(opinion of GORSUCH, J.), ANCSA is readily described as a 
special program provided by the United States to “Indians” 
(in  this  case,  Alaska  Natives).    See  43  U. S. C.  §1626  (de-
scribing  ANCSA’s  relationship  to  “other  programs”).    The 
scope of that program is substantial: ANCSA made ANCs 
eligible to select tens of millions of acres of land and receive
hundreds of millions of tax-exempt dollars.  §§1605, 1610,
1611.  Not  just  a  one-time  payment,  ANCSA  provides  for 
revenue sharing among the regional ANCs to ensure Alaska
Natives across the State benefit from an ongoing equitable