Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-493_jgko.pdf
Page Number: 26.0

2 

YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO v. TEXAS 

ROBERTS, C. J., dissenting 

gambling violations more leniently than other violations of 
Texas law.  This makes little sense, as the whole point of
the provision at issue was to further restrict gaming on the 
Tribe’s lands.  I respectfully dissent. 

I 
A 
The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe sits on a 100-acre reser-
vation near El Paso, Texas.  The Tribe first received federal 
recognition in 1968.  At that time, Congress simultaneously 
transferred the United States’ trust responsibilities to the 
State of Texas.  See Tiwa Indians Act of 1968, Pub. L. 90– 
287, 82 Stat. 93.  Texas thereafter held the Tribe’s land in 
trust, and Texas law applied in full on the reservation. 

The  situation  became  tenuous,  however,  in  1983.    That 
year Texas’s Attorney General issued an opinion concluding
that the State’s trust relationship with a similarly situated 
Tribe violated the Texas Constitution.  This led to a great 
deal of uncertainty about the Pueblo’s future.  Efforts began 
to  establish,  for  the  first  time,  a  direct  trust  relationship
between the Tribe and the Federal Government.  But a key
sticking  point  soon  emerged:  the  status  of  gaming  on  the 
reservation. 

Texas  has  long  maintained  strict  controls  on  gambling.
Indeed, since 1876 the Texas Constitution has required the 
State’s legislature to “pass laws prohibiting” such activities.
Art. III, §47; see also Fort Worth v. Rylie, 602 S. W. 3d 459, 
460  (Tex.  2020).  While  the  Texas  Constitution  now  con-
tains limited exceptions for charitable bingo and raffles, as
well  as  the  State’s  official  lottery,  its  ban  on  casino-style 
gaming remains absolute.  With the Pueblo seeking federal 
trust status, Texas officials worried that if the State’s gam-
ing laws no longer applied on tribal lands, the Tribe’s small 
reservation might soon become a large hub for high-stakes
gaming.

In  1985,  Congress  considered  a  bill  that  would  have