Lincoln v. Vigil, 508 U.S. 182, 14 (1993)

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Cite as: 508 U. S. 182 (1993)

Opinion of the Court

Quick Bear v. Leupp, 210 U. S. 50, 80 (1908) (distinguishing between money appropriated to fulfill treaty obligations, to which trust relationship attaches, and "gratuitous appropriations"). Whatever the contours of that relationship, though, it could not limit the Service's discretion to reorder its priorities from serving a subgroup of beneficiaries to serving the broader class of all Indians nationwide. See Hoopa Valley Tribe v. Christie, 812 F. 2d 1097, 1102 (CA9 1986) (Federal Government "does have a fiduciary obligation to the Indians; but it is a fiduciary obligation that is owed to all Indian tribes") (emphasis added).

One final note: although respondents claimed in the District Court that the Service's termination of the Program violated their rights under the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, see supra, at 189, that court expressly declined to address respondents' constitutional arguments, 746 F. Supp., at 1483, as did the Court of Appeals, 953 F. 2d, at 1228-1229, n. 3. Thus, while the APA contemplates, in the absence of a clear expression of contrary congressional intent, that judicial review will be available for colorable constitutional claims, see Webster, 486 U. S., at 603-604, the record at this stage does not allow mature consideration of constitutional issues, which we leave for the Court of Appeals on remand.

III

We next consider the Court of Appeals's holding, quite apart from the matter of substantive reviewability, that before terminating the Program the Service was required to abide by the familiar notice-and-comment rulemaking provisions of the APA, 5 U. S. C. § 553. Section 553 provides generally that an agency must publish notice of a proposed rule-making in the Federal Register and afford "interested persons an opportunity to participate . . . through submission of written data, views, or arguments." §§ 553(b), (c). The same section also generally requires the agency to publish a rule not less than 30 days before its effective date and

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