Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-543_3e04.pdf
Page Number: 29.0

26 

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

Brief for Respondents Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Res-
ervation et al. 54.  It merely confirms the powers Congress
expressly  afforded  ANCs  and  that  the  Executive  Branch 
has long understood ANCs to possess. 

III 
Almost  everyone  agrees  that  if  ANCs  are  Indian  tribes
under ISDA, they are eligible for funding under Title V of 
the CARES Act.  If Congress did not want to make ANCs
eligible for CARES Act funding, its decision to incorporate 
ISDA’s “Indian tribe” definition into the CARES Act would 
be inexplicable.  Had Congress wished to limit CARES Act 
funding to federally recognized tribes, it could simply have 
cross-referenced the List Act instead, as it had in numerous 
statutes  before.10    Instead,  Congress  invoked  a  definition 
that expressly includes ANCs (and has been understood for 
decades to include them).  Today’s ruling merely gives effect 
to that decision. 

Nevertheless,  the  Ute  Indian  Tribe  of  the  Uintah  and 
Ouray  Reservation  argues  that  the  CARES  Act  excludes
ANCs  regardless of whether they  are Indian tribes under
ISDA.    Recall  that  the  CARES  Act  allocates  money  to 
“Tribal governments.”  42 U. S. C. §801(a)(2)(B).  A “Tribal 
government” is “the recognized governing body of an Indian
tribe.”  §801(g)(5).  According to the Utes, ANCs do not have 
a “recognized governing body” because that term applies to
the governing body of a federally recognized tribe alone. 

As  the  Utes  implicitly  acknowledge,  however,  federal
recognition  is  usually  discussed  in  relation  to  tribes,  not 
their  governing  bodies.  Brief  for  Respondent  Ute  Indian 

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10 See,  e.g.,  Indian  Arts  and  Crafts  Amendments  Act  of  2010, 
§203(a)(2),  124  Stat.  2263  (“The  term  ‘Indian  tribe’  has  the  meaning 
given the term in section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe 
List  Act  of  1994”);  Helping  Expedite  and  Advance  Responsible  Tribal
Home Ownership Act of 2012, §2, 126 Stat. 1150 (same); Deadbeat Par-
ents Punishment Act of 1998, §2, 112 Stat. 619 (same).