Opinion ID: 805657
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: F.R. pt. 151.

Text: The Supreme Court has interpreted the language of § 479 in a way which directly impacts the analysis here. In Carcieri v. Salazar, 129 S. Ct. 1058 (2009), the Court held that for purposes of § 479, the phrase 'now under Federal jurisdiction' refers to a tribe that was under federal jurisdiction at the time of the -17- statute's enactment in June 1934. 129 S. Ct. at 1061. The Court held that since the tribe at issue there had not argued that it was under federal jurisdiction in 1934, and the evidence in the record was undisputed and to the contrary, the Secretary lacked authority to take land into trust for the tribe. Id. at 1068. Neither the Mashpee nor the Aquinnah, the two federally recognized tribes in Massachusetts,7 were federally recognized in 1934,8 raising the serious issue of whether the Secretary has any authority, absent Congressional action, to take lands into trust for either tribe. In a concurring opinion, Justice Breyer stated that the interpretation that reads 'now' as meaning 'in 1934' may prove somewhat less restrictive than it at first appears because a tribe may have been 'under Federal jurisdiction' in 1934 even though the Federal Government did not believe so at the time. Id. at 1069 (Breyer, J., concurring). Justice Souter and Justice Ginsburg, concurring in part and dissenting in part, agreed with 7 The most recent list of federally recognized tribes published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs lists only these two tribes as Massachusetts tribes. See Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, 75 Fed. Reg. 60,810, 60,811, 60,813 (Oct. 1, 2010). 8 See Final Determination for Federal Acknowledgment of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc. of Massachusetts, 72 Fed. Reg. 8,007 (Feb. 22, 2007) (finding that the Mashpee meet the criteria for federal acknowledgment under 25 C.F.R. § 83.7); Final Determination for Federal Acknowledgment of the Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head, Inc., 52 Fed. Reg. 4,193 (Feb. 10, 1987) (finding that the Aquinnah meet the criteria for federal acknowledgment under 25 C.F.R. § 83.7). -18- this analysis. Id. at 1071 (Souter, J., concurring). We do not know whether the Mashpee's land in trust application to the Secretary includes any such allegation or support for such a claim. No party has provided such information. The Court recently summarized Carcieri as holding that § 465 authorizes the Secretary to take land into trust only for tribes that were 'under federal jurisdiction' in 1934. Match-E- Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, 132 S. Ct. at 2204. In a footnote, the Court remarked that it was not addressing the scope of Carcieri, including whether the tribe at issue there was 'under federal jurisdiction' in 1934, as Carcieri requires, and how that question relates to Patchak's allegation that the Band was not 'federally recognized' at the time. Id. at 2204 n.2.