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Page Number: 18.0

10 

HAALAND v. BRACKEEN 

Opinion of the Court 

ing that these requirements, too, violate the Tenth Amend-
ment. 

We granted certiorari.2  595 U. S. ____ (2022). 

II 
A 
We begin with petitioners’ claim that ICWA exceeds Con-
gress’s  power  under  Article  I.    In  a  long  line  of  cases,  we
have  characterized  Congress’s  power  to  legislate  with  re-
spect  to  the  Indian  tribes  as  “ ‘plenary  and  exclusive.’ ”  
United States v. Lara, 541 U. S. 193, 200 (2004); South Da-
kota  v.  Yankton  Sioux  Tribe,  522  U. S.  329,  343  (1998)
(“Congress  possesses  plenary  power  over  Indian  affairs”); 
Washington  v.  Confederated  Bands  and  Tribes  of  Yakima 
Nation, 439 U. S. 463, 470 (1979) (Congress exercises “ple-
nary  and  exclusive  power  over  Indian  affairs”);  Winton  v. 
Amos,  255  U. S.  373,  391  (1921)  (“It  is  thoroughly  estab-
lished that Congress has plenary authority over the Indians
and all their tribal relations”); Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 187 
U. S.  553,  565  (1903)  (“Congress  possesse[s]  a  paramount 
power over the property of the Indians”); Stephens v. Cher-
okee Nation, 174 U. S. 445, 478 (1899) (“Congress possesses
plenary power of legislation in regard to” the Indian tribes).
Our cases leave little doubt that  Congress’s power in this 
field is muscular, superseding both tribal and state author-
ity.  Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U. S. 49, 56 (1978) 
(“Congress has plenary authority to limit, modify or elimi-
nate  the  powers  of  local  self-government  which  the  tribes
otherwise  possess”);  Dick  v.  United  States,  208  U. S.  340, 
353 (1908) (“Congress has power to regulate commerce with 

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2 Hernandez and the families, the State of Texas, the federal parties,
and the Tribes all filed cross-petitions for certiorari.  After the cases were 
consolidated, Hernandez, the families, and Texas proceeded as petition-
ers before this Court, and the federal parties and the Tribes proceeded 
as respondents.