Opinion ID: 2519859
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Venetie

Text: {16} In 1998, the Supreme Court granted certiorari on the issue and established a two-prong test for defining dependent Indian communities. Venetie, 522 U.S. at 527, 118 S.Ct. 948. The Court in Venetie held that the term dependent Indian communities referred to a limited category of Indian lands that are neither reservations nor allotments, and that satisfy two requirements first, they must have been set aside by the Federal Government for the use of the Indians as Indian land; second, they must be under federal superintendence. Id. In so holding, the Supreme Court disapproved of a six-factor balancing test that the court below had used to resolve the Indian country question. Id. at 531 n. 7, 118 S.Ct. 948. The Court stated that the six-factor test had reduced the federal set-aside and superintendence requirements to mere considerations, rather than being determinative factors. Id. It concluded that these determinative factors were reflected in the text of 18 U.S.C. § 1151 and in the Court's case law that preceded the enactment of the statute. Id. at 530-31, 118 S.Ct. 948. The Court reaffirmed that our Indian country precedents ... indicate both that the Federal Government must take some action setting apart the land for the use of the Indians `as such,' and that it is the land in question, and not merely the Indian tribe inhabiting it, that must be under the superintendence of the Federal Government. Id. at 531 n. 5, 118 S.Ct. 948; see United States v. McGowan, 302 U.S. 535, 539, 58 S.Ct. 286, 82 L.Ed. 410 (1938); United States v. Pelican, 232 U.S. 442, 449, 34 S.Ct. 396, 58 L.Ed. 676 (1914); United States v. Sandoval, 231 U.S. 28, 46, 34 S.Ct. 1, 58 L.Ed. 107 (1913). {17} In Venetie, the Supreme Court stated that although the definition for dependent Indian communities in 18 U.S.C. § 1151, by its terms relates only to federal criminal jurisdiction, we have recognized that it also generally applies to questions of civil jurisdiction. Venetie, 522 U.S. at 527, 118 S.Ct. 948; accord Blatchford, 904 F.2d at 543 (observing that regardless of whether a case is criminal or civil, resolving whether land is in Indian county is the same legal issue). The test established in Venetie has subsequently been used to resolve questions of jurisdiction related to Indian country in both civil and criminal cases. See, e.g., United States v. Roberts, 185 F.3d 1125, 1132-33 (10th Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1108, 120 S.Ct. 1960, 146 L.Ed.2d 792 (2000) (applying the Venetie two-prong test in a criminal case); Blunk v. Ariz. Dep't of Transp., 177 F.3d 879, 883-84 (9th Cir.1999) (applying the Venetie two-prong test in a civil case); Thompson, 127 F.Supp.2d at 156-58 (civil case); Malabed v. N. Slope Borough, 42 F.Supp.2d 927, 932-33 (D.Alaska 1999) (civil case).