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Page Number: 13.0

10 

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

Consider  a  similarly  worded  example.  A  doctor  recom-
mends getting a blood test every six months to “any child,
adult, or senior, including anyone over the age of 75 whose 
blood-sugar  levels  have  tested  in  the  prediabetic  range
within the last five years, who exhibits the warning signs 
of Type 2 diabetes.”  Without further context, it is unclear 
exactly  which  warning  signs  the  doctor  is  referring  to,  or 
how many of those signs a child, adult, or senior must ex-
hibit before warranting biannual testing.  But it is fair to 
say  that  individuals  over  75  with  prediabetic  blood-sugar 
levels within the last five years should get tested biannu-
ally,  even  if  they  exhibit  no  other  warning  signs.    By  ex-
pressly “including” individuals with that one warning sign, 
the  doctor’s  recommendation  makes  clear  that  particular
sign, by itself, is warning enough.

Just so here: Congress’ express inclusion of ANCs “estab-
lished  pursuant  to  [ANCSA]”  confirms  that  eligibility  for 
ANCSA’s benefits alone is eligibility enough to be an Indian 
tribe.  ANCs thus satisfy ISDA’s Indian tribe definition, re-
gardless of whether they and their shareholders are eligible
for federal Indian programs and services other than those 
provided in ANCSA.  At any rate, the one-to-one relation-
ship respondents posit between membership in a federally 
recognized  tribe  and  eligibility  for  federal  Indian  benefits
more broadly does not hold in the unique circumstances of 
Alaska.  See Letter from E. Prelogar, Acting Solicitor Gen-
eral, to S. Harris, Clerk of Court (Apr. 22, 2021) (“[T]he fed-
eral government has historically provided benefits and ser-
vices to Alaska Natives who are not enrolled members of a 
federally  recognized  Indian  tribe”);  D.  Case  &  D.  Voluck,
Alaska  Natives  and  Americans  Laws  30  (3d  ed.  2012) 
(“[T]he federal government has, at least since the end of the 
nineteenth  century,  provided  a  wide  variety  of  programs 
and services to Alaska Natives solely because of their status
as Natives”).  So ANCSA is not, in fact, the only federal In-