Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-493_jgko.pdf
Page Number: 38

14 

YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO v. TEXAS 

ROBERTS, C. J., dissenting 

Texas’s gaming prohibitions applied on tribal lands.  But in 
a  universe  where  §107(a)  bars  no  conduct  beyond  what
§105(f )  already  prohibits,  it  would  make  little  sense  for 
Texas to have less enforcement authority over gaming when
that was the only sticking point prior to passage of the Res-
toration  Act.    This  is  a  sure-fire  sign  that  something  has 
gone badly awry in the Court’s interpretation of §107.

The Tribal Resolution confirms this point.  The House of 
Representatives passed H. R. 1344 in December 1985.  That 
version of the bill already contained the pertinent language 
applying  Public  Law  280  to  the  Tribe.  See  H. R.  1344, 
§105(f ),  99th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  6.    Under  that  regime,  the
Tribe would have had the same authority that other tribes
had  under  Public  Law  280  to  offer  games  not  altogether 
banned by a State.  But H. R. 1344 stalled in the Senate, 
and the Tribe adopted its resolution.  The resolution made 
clear  that  the  Tribe  was  offering  a  concession  that  would 
limit its ability to offer gambling to a greater extent than
under  H. R.  1344  and  its  existing  incorporation  of  Public 
Law 280.  That is why the Tribe objected that it was being 
unfairly “singl[ed] out . . . for treatment different than that 
accorded other Tribes in this country.”  App. to Pet. for Cert. 
123. 

Still,  the  Tribe  wanted—and  needed—federal  trust  sta-
tus, more than gambling.  In fact, the Tribe asserted in the 
preamble to the resolution that it had “no interest in con-
ducting  high  stakes  bingo  or  other  gambling  operations” 
and remained “firm in its commitment to prohibit outright 
any gambling or bingo in any form on its reservation.”  Id., 
at 121, 123.  Given its interest in federal trust status and 
its lack of interest in gaming, the Tribe requested that Con-
gress  “amend”  H. R.  1344  to  add  language  banning  “all 
gaming,  gambling,  lottery,  or  bingo”  on  its  reservation. 
Ibid.  Since  the  then-existing  text  of  H. R.  1344  already 
made Public Law 280 applicable to the Tribe, it is plain that 
the proposed addition in §107 was designed to go further.