South Dakota v. Bourland, 508 U.S. 679, 8 (1993)

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686

SOUTH DAKOTA v. BOURLAND

Opinion of the Court

nently enjoined the Tribe and its members from exerting such authority.7

The Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. 949 F. 2d 984 (CA8 1991). The court distinguished between the 104,420 acres of former trust lands acquired pursuant to the Cheyenne River Act and the 18,000 acres of former non-Indian fee lands acquired pursuant to the Flood Control Act. As to the former trust lands, the court held that the Tribe had authority to regulate non-Indian hunting and fishing because the Cheyenne River Act did not clearly reveal Congress' intent to divest the Tribe of its treaty right to do so. As to the 18,000 acres of former fee lands, however, the court found that Montana v. United States and Brendale v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Nation, 492 U. S. 408 (1989), controlled. Assuming the 18,000 acres had previously been held in fee by non-Indians pursuant to one of the Allotment Acts, the Court of Appeals noted that:

"Since Montana held that tribes have been divested of their regulatory authority over non-Indians hunting and fishing on land held in fee by non-Indians pursuant to an

7 The District Court found no evidence that the Tribe has ever imposed criminal sanctions on a nonmember who violated tribal hunting or fishing ordinances. App. 87. Throughout this litigation, respondents have disa-vowed any criminal jurisdiction over nonmembers, asserting instead that the sanctions they seek to impose on unlicensed hunters and fishermen are purely civil in nature. Id., at 85. The State, however, has contended that these tribal regulations will be enforced through criminal sanctions. The District Court dismissed the State's request for a declaration that the Tribe has "no jurisdiction" to arrest and try non-Indians on the reservation, on the ground that the "purported controversy lacks sufficient immediacy and reality." Id., at 88 (internal quotation marks omitted). In any event, we have previously held that "the inherent sovereignty of the Indian tribes does not extend to criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes on the reservation." Duro v. Reina, 495 U. S. 676, 684 (1990) (emphasis added). See also Oliphant v. Suquamish Tribe, 435 U. S. 191, 210 (1978).

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