442
Blackmun, J., dissenting
IV
One hundred thirty years ago, Congress designated the Uintah Valley Reservation "for the permanent settlement and exclusive occupation of" the Ute Indians. Act of May 5, 1864, ch. 77, 13 Stat. 63. The 1905 opening of the reservation constituted a substantial breach of Congress' original promise, but that opening alone is insufficient to extinguish the Ute Tribe's jurisdiction. Nothing in the "face of the Act," its "surrounding circumstances," or its "legislative history" establishes a clear congressional purpose to diminish the Uintah Reservation. DeCoteau, 420 U. S., at 445 (internal quotation marks omitted). I appreciate that jurisdiction often may not be neatly parsed among the States and Indian tribes, but this is the inevitable burden of the path this Nation has chosen. Under our precedents, the lands where petitioner's offense occurred are Indian country, and the State of Utah lacked jurisdiction to try him for that crime. See 18 U. S. C. § 1151.
I respectfully dissent.
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