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Page Number: 36

8 

OKLAHOMA v. CASTRO-HUERTA 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

permission  from  Congress  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over
crimes “by or against Indians” on tribal lands.  18 U. S. C. 
§ 3243.    Through  the  rest  of  the  decade,  Congress  experi-
mented with similar laws for New York, Iowa, and North 
Dakota.1  Then, in 1953, Congress adopted Public Law 280.
That statute granted five additional States criminal “juris-
diction over offenses . . . by or against Indians” and estab-
lished procedures by which further States could secure the
same authority.  See ch. 505, § 2, 67 Stat. 588.  Ultimately,
however,  some  of  these  arrangements  proved  unpopular.
Not  only  with  affected  Tribes.    See  C.  Goldberg-Ambrose, 
Public Law 280 and the Problem of Lawlessness in Califor-
nia  Indian  Country,  44  UCLA  L.  Rev.  1405,  1406–1407 
(1997)  (Goldberg-Ambrose).  These  arrangements  also
proved unpopular with certain States that viewed their new 
law  enforcement  responsibilities  on  tribal  lands  as  un-
funded federal mandates.  See Anderson 436.  A few States 
even renounced their Public Law 280 jurisdiction.  See Co-
hen 579. 

By 1968, the federal government came to conclude that,
“as a matter of justice and as a matter of enlightened social
policy,”  the  “time  ha[d]  come  to  break  decisively  with  the 
past and to create the conditions for a new era in which the
Indian future is determined by Indian acts and Indian de-
cisions.”  Richard M. Nixon, Special Message on Indian Af-
fairs (July 8, 1970).  Consistent with that vision, Congress 
amended  Public  Law  280  to  require  tribal  consent  before 
any  State  could  assume  jurisdiction  over  crimes  by  or
against Indians on tribal lands.  Act of Apr. 11, 1968, § 401, 
82 Stat. 78, § 406, id., at 80 (25 U. S. C. §§ 1321(a), 1326).
Recognizing that certain States’ enabling acts barred state 

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1 See Act of July 2, 1948, ch. 809, 62 Stat. 1224 (25 U. S. C. § 232) (New
York); Act of June 30, 1948, ch. 759, 62 Stat. 1161 (Iowa), repealed, Act 
of Dec. 11, 2018, Pub. L. 115–301, 132 Stat. 4395; Act of May 31, 1946,
ch. 279, 60 Stat. 229 (North Dakota).