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Page Number: 42.0

14 

OKLAHOMA v. CASTRO-HUERTA 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

Because  Tribes  are  sovereigns,  this  Court  has  consist-
ently recognized that the usual “standards of pre-emption”
are “unhelpful.”  White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 
448 U. S. 136, 143 (1980); see also Cotton Petroleum Corp. 
v. New Mexico, 490 U. S. 163, 176 (1989); Moe v. Confeder-
ated  Salish  and  Kootenai  Tribes  of  Flathead  Reservation, 
425 U. S. 463, 475–476 (1976); McClanahan v. Arizona Tax 
Comm’n, 411 U. S. 164, 170–172 (1973).  In typical preemp-
tion cases, courts “start with the assumption” that Congress
has not displaced state authority.  Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator 
Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 230 (1947).  But when a State tries to 
regulate tribal affairs, the same “backdrop” does not apply
because Tribes have a “claim to sovereignty [that] long pre-
dates  that  of  our  own  Government.”    McClanahan,  411 
U. S., at 172; see also Bracker, 448 U. S., at 143.  So instead 
of searching for an Act of Congress displacing state author-
ity, our cases require a search for federal legislation confer-
ring state authority:  “[U]nless and until Congress acts, the
tribes retain their historic sovereign authority.”  Bay Mills 
Indian  Community,  572  U. S.,  at  788  (internal  quotation 
marks omitted); see United States v. Cooley, 593 U. S. ___, 
___–___ (2021) (slip op., at 3–4) (instructing courts to ask if
a “treaty or statute has explicitly divested Indian tribes of 
the . . . authority at issue”); Anderson 317.  What is more, 
courts must “tread lightly” before concluding Congress has 
abrogated  tribal  sovereignty  in  favor  of  state  authority. 
Santa Clara Pueblo, 436 U. S., at 60.  Any ambiguities in 

—————— 
op., at 1); United States v. Cooley, 593 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2021) (slip op., 
at  3–4);  Oklahoma  Tax  Comm’n  v.  Citizen  Band  Potawatomi  Tribe  of 
Okla., 498 U. S. 505, 509 (1991);  United States v. Wheeler, 435 U. S. 313, 
322–323 (1978); Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U. S. 49, 56 (1978); 
United States v. Mazurie, 419 U. S. 544, 557 (1975); Talton v. Mayes, 163 
U. S. 376, 383–384 (1896); United States v. Kagama, 118 U. S. 375, 381– 
382 (1886); Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 5 Pet. 1, 17 (1831).