Opinion ID: 1442397
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Federal Preemption, Indian Sovereignty, and State Authority Over Indian Affairs

Text: Section 1360 must be understood in the historical context of the relationship between the federal government, state government, and Indian tribes. A review of this history makes clear the federal government's predominance over Indian affairs in general and over Indian land policy in particular. (2) `The policy of leaving Indians free from state jurisdiction and control is deeply rooted in this nation's history.' ( McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm'n (1973) 411 U.S. 164, 168 [36 L.Ed.2d 129, 133, 93 S.Ct. 1257].) This policy has two independent but interrelated bases: federal preemption and the internal sovereign rights of Indian tribes. ( White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker (1980) 448 U.S. 136, 142 [65 L.Ed.2d 665, 671-672, 100 S.Ct. 2578].) Early decisions stress Indian sovereignty as the basis for the exclusion of states from Indian affairs. (See Worcester v. Georgia (1832) 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515, 556-557 [8 L.Ed. 483, 499-500].) This view has persisted, though in modified form, to the present day. Although Indian tribes do not possess the full sovereignty of independent nations, decisional law has continued to stress that Indian tribes are unique aggregations possessing `attributes of sovereignty over both their members and their territory.' ( New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe (1983) 462 U.S. 324, 332 [76 L.Ed.2d 611, 619, 103 S.Ct. 2378].) In more recent times, courts have come to favor federal preemption over inherent sovereignty as the primary justification for the preclusion of state authority over Indian affairs. (See McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm'n, supra, 411 U.S. 164, 172.) The basis for this assertion of exclusive federal authority over Indian affairs is rooted in three provisions of the United States Constitution: the Indian commerce clause (art. I, § 8, cl. 3), which gives Congress the exclusive power to control Indian commerce; the treaty clause (art. II, § 2, cl. 2); and the supremacy clause (art. VI, cl. 2), which, together with extensive congressional legislation on Indian affairs, has broadly preempted state law. (Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian Law (1982 ed.) pp. 207-208, 270-271 (hereafter Cohen).) The predominance of the federal government in Indian affairs is nowhere more pronounced than in the field of Indian property law. Most Indian lands are owned by the United States and held in trust for the benefit of Indians. (Cohen, supra, at p. 209.) In addition to the formal trust relationship, there is extensive federal legislation protecting Indian property and property claims. Chief among these are statutes that forbid the alienation of Indian tribal property without approval by the federal government. (25 U.S.C. §§ 177, 464.) Lands allotted by the government to individual Indians under the General Allotment Act of 1887 (25 U.S.C. § 348) are also subject to an indefinite federal trust period, and alienation of these lands is subject to prior federal approval as well. The subjection of Indian property to restrictions on alienation and federal trusteeship preempts certain state-law defenses to title actions, such as adverse possession, laches and estoppel by sale. (Cohen, supra, at p. 520.) Federal law also requires that in property disputes in which one party is non-Indian and the other Indian, the burden of proof is on the non-Indian litigant once the Indian party has shown presumption of title by virtue of previous ownership and possession. (25 U.S.C. § 194; see Wilson v. Omaha Indian Tribe (1979) 442 U.S. 653 [61 L.Ed.2d 153, 99 S.Ct. 2529] [construing 25 U.S.C. § 194 broadly in favor of the Indians].) The basis for this exclusive federal-Indian relationship regarding Indian land derives, again, both from notions of inherent sovereignty and federal preemption. Indian sovereignty is reflected in the unique nature of Indian title, which bestows a right not of ownership but of occupancy good against all but the sovereign United States government and is recognized as the basis for exclusive federal jurisdiction over Indian property. ( Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida (1974) 414 U.S. 661, 667 [39 L.Ed.2d 73, 79, 94 S.Ct. 772].) From the concept of Indian title emerges the rudimentary propositions that Indian title is a matter of federal law and can be extinguished only with federal consent.... ( Id. at p. 670 [39 L.Ed.2d at p. 80].) Federal preemption arises from extensive federal Indian land legislation, such as the restrictions on alienation cited above. The protection of Indian trust land through federal legislation has been one of the principal means by which the federal government has sought to secure the economic well being and tribal autonomy of native Americans. (Cohen, supra, at pp. 196-200, 509.) If tribal lands were not subject to restraints on alienation and tax immunities, market forces and state tax assessors would eventually erode Indian ownership of the reservation. ( Id. at p. 509.) (3) The federal government's relationship to Indians and their land is not only exclusive but fiduciary. Courts have held the United States, as trustee of Indian property, to the obligation of acting in the Indians' best interest. (See, e.g., Seminole Nation v. U.S. (1942) 316 U.S. 286, 296-297 [86 L.Ed. 1480, 1490-1491, 62 S.Ct. 1049]; United States v. Kagama (1886) 118 U.S. 375, 383-384 [30 L.Ed. 228, 231, 6 S.Ct. 1109]; see also Chambers, Judicial Enforcement of the Federal Trust Responsibility to Indians (1975) 27 Stan.L.Rev. 1213.) The basis for this fiduciary relationship between the United States and the Indians was early articulated in United States v. Kagama, supra, 118 U.S. at page 384 [30 L.Ed. at page 231]: From [the Indians'] very weakness and helplessness, so largely due to the course of dealing of the Federal Government with them and the treaties in which it has been promised, there arises the duty of protection, and with it the power. Federal Indian land policy has itself oscillated between the promotion of Indian tribal autonomy and the desire to assimilate Indians as ordinary citizens into American society. A policy of allotting Indian tribal land to individual Indians in the late-19th and early-20th centuries was curtailed when the policy resulted in widespread alienation of Indian holdings and resultant landlessness of the allotment policy's intended beneficiaries. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was part of a period in which tribal autonomy was actively promoted. Another assimilationist chapter in American Indian history resulted in the Termination Acts of the 1950's, pursuant to which numerous tribes were officially disbanded and their reservation land divided among tribal members. Finally, the period since the 1960's has been a time in which tribal self-sufficiency has largely been reaffirmed and extended. (See generally Cohen, supra, pp. 129-188.)