Opinion ID: 196879
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Significance of Indian Country

Text: 19 Serving as the backdrop to this case is the doctrine that Indian tribes are 'domestic dependent nations' that exercise inherent sovereign authority over their members and territories. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe, 498 U.S. 505, 509, 111 S.Ct. 905, 909, 112 L.Ed.2d 1112 (1991) (citing Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 5 Pet. 1, 17, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831)); see McClanahan, 411 U.S. at 168-69, 93 S.Ct. at 1260-61 (outlining the roots of the Indian sovereignty doctrine). This rule has softened over time, so that it is no longer true that state law plays no role within a tribe's territory. Nonetheless, the state's jurisdiction is not automatic. [S]tate laws may be applied to tribal Indians on their reservations if Congress has expressly so provided, California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202, 207, 107 S.Ct. 1083, 1087, 94 L.Ed.2d 244 (1987); where Congress does not so provide, a pre-emption analysis is followed to determine if state law is pre-empted by federal and tribal interests as reflected in federal law. See id. at 216, 107 S.Ct. at 1091-92; DeCoteau, 420 U.S. at 427 & n. 2, 95 S.Ct. at 1084-85 & n. 2; McClanahan, 411 U.S. at 172, 93 S.Ct. at 1262. 20 In short, it would vastly oversimplify the problem to say that nothing remains of the notion that reservation Indians are a separate people to whom state jurisdiction ... may not extend. McClanahan, 411 U.S. at 170, 93 S.Ct. at 1261. Therefore, the issue here of whether the housing site is Indian country bears real significance, since the Indian country classification is the benchmark for approaching the allocation of federal, tribal, and state authority with respect to Indians and Indian lands. Indian Country, U.S.A. v. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n, 829 F.2d 967, 973 (10th Cir.1987) (collecting cases), cert. denied sub nom. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Muscogee (Creek) Nation, 487 U.S. 1218, 108 S.Ct. 2870, 101 L.Ed.2d 906 (1988); see Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Sac and Fox Nation, 508 U.S. 114, 125, 113 S.Ct. 1985, 1991, 124 L.Ed.2d 30 (1993) (rejecting argument that Indian sovereignty only applies to formal reservation lands, stating we ask only whether the land is Indian country); Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law 27 (1982 ed.) ([F]or most jurisdictional purposes the governing legal term is 'Indian country.' ). If the housing site is not Indian country, there is no bar to the exercise of the State's jurisdiction. If it is, the State presumptively lacks jurisdiction to enforce the regulations and ordinances discussed here, and we must carry out a pre-emption analysis.