Cite as: 510 U. S. 399 (1994)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
available for entry and sale. Restoration of lands to the public domain thus establishes only that the lands were opened to access by non-Indians and to settlement and purchase, a condition "completely consistent with continued reservation status." Mattz, 412 U. S., at 497.
In our most recent diminishment case, we unanimously rejected the argument adopted by the majority here—that "Congress would refer to opened lands as being part of the public domain only if the lands had lost all vestiges of reservation status." Solem, 465 U. S., at 475. Instead, we observed that "even without diminishment, unallotted opened lands could be conceived of as being in the 'public domain' inasmuch as they were available for settlement." Id., at 475, n. 17; see also Whether Surplus Lands in Uintah and Ouray Reservation are Indian Lands, 2 Op. Sol. 1205 (1943) ("[R]estored to the public domain" is "only a method of indicating that the lands are to be subject to disposition under the public land laws"). Solem concerned an allotment statute that referred to opened lands as "part of the public domain," 465 U. S., at 475, and as "within the respective reservations thus diminished," id., at 474 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court refused to infer diminishment from this language, however, finding "considerable doubt as to what Congress meant in using these phrases." Id., at 475, n. 17. We concluded that when balanced against the applicable statute's stated goal of opening the reservation for sale to non-Indians, "these two phrases cannot carry the burden of establishing an express congressional purpose to diminish." Id., at 475.
The majority's focus on the fact that the public domain language in Solem was not in the operative portion of the statute, see ante, at 413, ignores the Solem Court's additional conclusion that the public domain is an ambiguous concept that is not incompatible with reservation status. Furthermore, the fact that the public domain language in Solem was not operative and did not use the word "restored" should
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