Opinion ID: 673518
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Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Congressional Power and the Indian Commerce Clause

Text: 15 The Supreme Court's recent decisions tell us that Congress has the authority to abrogate Eleventh Amendment immunity when it is exercising a constitutional provision that gives Congress plenary power over matters affecting the states. Such authority clearly exists with respect to Sec. 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. See, e.g., Fitzpatrick, 427 U.S. at 456, 96 S.Ct. at 2671 (Eleventh Amendment is necessarily limited by the enforcement provisions of Sec. 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment). The Court has also held that Congress possesses the power of abrogation under the Interstate Commerce Clause. Union Gas, 491 U.S. 1, 109 S.Ct. 2273. 16 The Supreme Court has never specifically addressed the intersection of federal power over tribes and state sovereign immunity that the IGRA represents. The Court in Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak, 501 U.S. 775, 111 S.Ct. 2578, 115 L.Ed.2d 686 (1991), held that the Eleventh Amendment generally bars suits against a state by an Indian tribe. Id. at 779-84, 111 S.Ct. at 2581-83. While acknowledging that the states waived their immunity to suits by other states when they adopted the Constitution, the Court rejected the argument that Indian tribes could be treated as states for this purpose. The Court reasoned that the states' waiver vis a vis other states was founded upon a mutuality of ... concession, that was lacking between the states and Indian tribes. Id. But this holding, that a general waiver of immunity from suits against tribes cannot be inferred from the Constitution itself, does not address the question of whether Congress may abrogate that immunity under the Indian Commerce Clause when it acts with the clarity of purpose that it did in the IGRA. 17 The Court's holding in Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico, 490 U.S. 163, 192, 109 S.Ct. 1698, 1716, 104 L.Ed.2d 209 (1989), upon which the district court relied, is similarly inapplicable. The Court there held only that a state could tax non-Indian oil and gas interests located on Indian lands and subject to tribal taxes without impermissibly burdening commerce with Indian tribes, even though such double taxation might impermissibly burden commerce among states if imposed on activity within another state. In reaching this conclusion, the Court noted that Interstate Commerce Clause doctrine cannot always readily be applied to cases involving the Indian Commerce Clause. This statement, however, does not speak to the scope of congressional power under either the Interstate Commerce Clause or the Indian Commerce Clause. 18 The Supreme Court case more closely related to our situation is Pennsylvania v. Union Gas Co., 491 U.S. 1, 109 S.Ct. 2273, 105 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989). The Union Gas Court held that Congress has the power to abrogate the states' immunity from suit under the Commerce Clause. The plurality opinion first noted that the states had necessarily surrendered a portion of their sovereignty when they granted Congress the power to regulate commerce, including any aspect of that sovereignty which would stand in the way of this congressional power. Id. at 14, 109 S.Ct. at 2281 (quoting Parden v. Terminal Railway, 377 U.S. 184, 84 S.Ct. 1207, 12 L.Ed.2d 233 (1964), overruled on other grounds by Welch v. Texas Dep't of Highways & Public Transp., 483 U.S. 468, 107 S.Ct. 2941, 97 L.Ed.2d 389 (1987)). Next, the opinion noted that in Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, the Court had held that Congress could abrogate the states' immunity under the Fourteenth Amendment for reasons that were precisely applicable to the Commerce Clause: 19 When Congress acts pursuant to Sec. 5, not only is it exercising legislative authority that is plenary within the terms of the constitutional grant, it is exercising that authority under one section of a constitutional Amendment whose other sections by their own terms embody limitations on state authority. 20 . . . . . 21 Each of these points is as applicable to the Commerce Clause as it is to the Fourteenth Amendment. Like the Fourteenth Amendment, the Commerce Clause with one hand gives power to Congress while, with the other, it takes power away from the States.... The important point, ... is that the provision both expands federal power and contracts state power; that is the meaning, in fact, of a plenary grant of authority. 22 Id. 491 U.S. at 16-17, 109 S.Ct. at 2282-83 (quoting Fitzpatrick, 427 U.S. at 456, 96 S.Ct. at 2671). Although Justice Brennan's opinion in Union Gas was a plurality opinion, a fifth Justice, Justice White, agreed that states are not immune from suit under statutes enacted pursuant to the Interstate Commerce Clause, provided the congressional intent is clear. 491 U.S. at 57, 109 S.Ct. at 2296 (White, J., concurring in part). 23 The district court in this case concluded that because a significant difference exists between congressional power under the Indian Commerce Clause and the Interstate Commerce Clause, there was no basis for holding that Congress could abrogate state sovereign immunity under the Indian Commerce Clause. We cannot agree with the district court that the differences between the Indian and the Interstate Commerce Clauses support state immunity from tribal suit where, as here, Congress has authorized such suits. Congress' power over both Indian and interstate commerce is set forth in Article I, Sec. 8: 24 The Congress shall have power, 25 . . . . . 26 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes[.] 27 Moreover, the analysis developed by the Supreme Court in both Union Gas and Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer is equally applicable to the Indian Commerce Clause. In fact, the Union Gas plurality framed its opinion in terms of the Commerce Clause as a whole, and did not limit it to the Interstate Commerce Clause. 28 In this case, as in Union Gas and Fitzpatrick, Congress is acting under one of its plenary powers. As the Supreme Court explained in Cotton Petroleum, the central function of the Indian Commerce Clause is to provide Congress with plenary power to legislate in the field of Indian affairs. In 1832, the Supreme Court pronounced that the Indian Commerce Clause, together with Congress' constitutional power to conclude treaties with Indian tribes, provide Congress with all that is required for complete control over Indian affairs. Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515, 558, 8 L.Ed. 483 (1832). 29 This broad grant of power to Congress over Indian affairs necessarily limits the power of the states. Generally, unless Congress has authorized a state to apply its laws to Indian activities on a reservation, the state has no authority to do so. Antoine v. Washington, 420 U.S. 194, 95 S.Ct. 944, 43 L.Ed.2d 129 (1975); McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission, 411 U.S. 164, 93 S.Ct. 1257, 36 L.Ed.2d 129 (1973); Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217 (1959). The Supreme Court stated in McClanahan that  '[t]he policy of leaving Indians free from state jurisdiction and control is deeply rooted in the nation's history.'  411 U.S. at 168, 93 S.Ct. at 1260 (quoting Rice v. Olson, 324 U.S. 786, 789, 65 S.Ct. 989, 991, 89 L.Ed. 1367 (1945)). Thus, absent congressional action, a tribe retains its inherent right of self government and no state may impose its laws on the reservation. Stephen Pevar, Rights of Indians and Tribes 79 (1992). In a recent reaffirmation of this principle, the Supreme Court in 1991 stated that Indian tribes are 'domestic dependent nations' which exercise inherent sovereign authority over their members and territories. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe, 498 U.S. 505, 111 S.Ct. 905, 112 L.Ed.2d 1112 (1991). 30 Congressional power pursuant to the Indian Commerce Clause, then, cannot be less than its authority under the Interstate Commerce Clause. We therefore agree with District Judge Marcus when he said that: 31 congressional power over both interstate and Indian commerce derives from the same clause in the Constitution; and we are hard pressed to conclude that the congressional authority to abrogate the States' immunity in the area of interstate commerce is greater than in Indian commerce.... [W]e conclude that, based on its paramount and plenary authority over Indian affairs, Congress' power to act pursuant to the Indian Commerce Clause is at least as great, if not greater, than its powers under the Interstate Commerce Clause. 32 Seminole Tribe v. Florida, 801 F.Supp. 655, 662 (S.D.Fla.1992), rev'd, 11 F.3d 1016 (11th Cir.1994). Reversing the district court in that case, the Eleventh Circuit questioned the continuing vitality of the Union Gas decision in light of changing Supreme Court membership and the lack of majority opinion. The case, however, remains binding authority upon us. Moreover, even if the Supreme Court were to overrule Union Gas and hold that Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce does not permit Congress to abrogate sovereign immunity, Congress' broader authority over tribal affairs would remain. 33 The IGRA was passed to fill a void in Indian gaming regulation that arose from the states' dependence on Congress for any authority to regulate tribal affairs. See California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202, 107 S.Ct. 1083, 94 L.Ed.2d 244 (1987). In grappling with sensitive issues following the state of California's defeat in Cabazon Band, Congress tried to fashion a plan that would enable the states to have a voice in how tribal gaming should operate and to enforce to some degree the states' own laws. The states' immunity from suits under the Eleventh Amendment should not frustrate that goal. Indeed, principles of state sovereignty are singularly out of place in such a scheme, where the federal government is tailoring a limited grant of power to the states. In this case, sovereign immunity would undermine rather than promote the assertion of state interests. 34 The Eleventh Circuit was concerned by the regulatory void that it might leave by invalidating the IGRA's provisions for federal judicial enforcement. Those concerns illustrate the problem caused when state sovereignty is injected into the federal scheme. The Eleventh Circuit reasoned that a void was not necessary because the provisions of the statute authorizing the Secretary of Interior to impose regulations would come into effect once a state asserted immunity from suit. When that occurred the Secretary of the Interior would, in the Eleventh Circuit's view, remain authorized to impose regulations for Class III gaming. Seminole Tribe, 11 F.3d at 1029. In our view, however, such a result would pervert the congressional plan. This is because the Secretary of the Interior under the statute is to act only as a matter of last resort, and then only after consulting with the court appointed mediator who has become familiar with the positions and interests of both the tribes and the states in court directed negotiations. 25 U.S.C. Sec. 2710(d)(7)(B)(iv)-(vii). The Eleventh Circuit's solution would turn the Secretary of the Interior into a federal czar, contrary to the congressional aim of state participation. 35 For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the State of Washington is not immune from this suit under the IGRA to enforce the clear congressional mandate that states negotiate in good faith with tribes to reach tribal gaming compacts. The judgment of the district court dismissing the action against the state is REVERSED. The order of the district court permitting the case to go forward against the individual defendants under the doctrine of Ex Parte Young is VACATED because it is no longer necessary. See Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 167 & n. 14, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3106 & n. 14, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985) (any immunity of state officers acting in their official capacities depends upon state immunity). Defendants contend that regardless of immunity, the case should be dismissed as to the individual defendants because the IGRA does not authorize suit against individual officers. The district court may consider this argument on remand. 36 REVERSED AND REMANDED.