Cite as: 521 U. S. 261 (1997)
Souter, J., dissenting
show the officers to lack any authority to maintain on the State's behalf.
What this straightforward analysis thus shows, precedent confirms. We have already seen that since the time of Young, as well as long before it, this Court has consistently held that a public officer's assertion of property title in the name of a government immune to suit cannot defeat federal jurisdiction over an individual's suit to be rid of interference with the property rights he claims. See, e. g., Treasure Salvors, 458 U. S., at 685-690 (opinion of Stevens, J.); Tindal, 167 U. S., at 221-223; Stanley v. Schwalby, 162 U. S. 255, 270- 271 (1896); Lee, 106 U. S., at 210. By a parity of reasoning, we have of course drawn the jurisdictional line short of ultimately quieting title (which would run directly against the State itself as putative title holder and not against its officers) or limiting the affected government in any subsequent quiet title action. "It is a judgment to the effect only that, as between the plaintiff and the defendants, the former is entitled to possession of the property in question, the latter having shown no valid authority to withhold possession from the plaintiff." Tindal, supra, at 223; see also Lee, supra, at 222. If dissatisfied with a federal court's interpretation of federal law in a suit against its officers, a State may itself subsequently "bring any action that may be appropriate to establish and protect whatever claim it has to the premises in dispute." 7 Tindal, supra, at 223; Lee, supra, at 222 ("[T]he government is always at liberty, notwithstanding any such judgment, to avail itself of all the remedies which the
7 One option not available to the State here would be to condemn the lands outright. Federal law prevents the State from exercising eminent domain or otherwise acquiring tribal lands directly from the Tribe. See Rev. Stat. § 2116, 25 U. S. C. § 177. Efforts by state and local governments to regulate or acquire Indian lands accordingly may violate federal law, but cannot exact a taking. Tribes possess the right under federal common law to sue to enforce their possessory rights in land. County of Oneida v. Oneida Indian Nation of N. Y., 470 U. S. 226, 235-236 (1985).
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