Opinion ID: 891574
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Williams v. Lee Infringement

Text: {47} Repeatedly, we have recognized the infringement test developed from Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217, 220, 79 S.Ct. 269, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959), which upheld the right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them. Found. Reserve Ins. Co. v. Garcia, 105 N.M. 514, 515, 734 P.2d 754, 755 (1987). Although the U.S. Supreme Court in the Montana line of cases subsequently narrowed Williams, particularly where the issue is tribal authority over non-Indians, we continue to apply the infringement test to determine whether the exercise of state authority will compromise the tribal sovereignty recognized in Williams. Under the infringement test, we consider three factors: whether the parties are Indian or non-Indian; whether the cause of action arose within the Indian reservation; and the nature of the interest to be protected. Found. Reserve Ins. Co., 105 N.M. at 515, 734 P.2d at 755. This case involves a non-Indian mother residing on non-Indian fee land within the Pueblo of Pojoaque, thereby affording both the State and the Pueblo considerable interests in adjudicating child-custody matters involving New Mexico citizens and Pojoaque tribal members. Therefore, the exercise of concurrent (but not exclusive) state-court jurisdiction on these facts does not infringe on the Pueblo's ability to make its own laws and be governed by them.