704
Opinion of the Court
not petition for court review of the Department's refusal to approve extension of the Tribe's tax to the ceded strip.
B
The Tribe brought a federal action against Montana and Montana counties in 1978, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against imposition of the State's severance and gross proceed taxes on coal belonging to the Tribe. The State's taxes, the Tribe alleged, were preempted by the IMLA and infringed on the Tribe's right to govern itself. The District Court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Crow Tribe v. Montana, 469 F. Supp. 154 (Mont. 1979). The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed. 650 F. 2d 1104 (1981), amended, 665 F. 2d 1390 (1982) (Crow I). It held that the Tribe's allegations, if proved, would establish that the IMLA preempted Montana's taxes, 650 F. 2d, at 1113-1115, and that the taxes impermissibly infringed upon the Tribe's sovereignty, id., at 1115-1117.
While the Ninth Circuit trained on the nonmonetary claim the Tribe was then pursuing, one for declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the imposition of Montana's taxes, the Court of Appeals noted: "As to the taxes already paid by Westmoreland . . . it is true that the Tribe has not paid any of the taxes and is apparently not entitled to any refund if the tax statutes are declared invalid." Id., at 1113, n. 13. The Ninth Circuit further observed that the Tribe's own attempt "to tax its lessees' coal production was partially frustrated by the Secretary of the Interior's refusal to sanction the Tribe's tax ordinances insofar as they applied to coal production on the ceded strip." Id., at 1115, n. 19.
In July 1982, after the Crow I decision, the Tribe and Westmoreland entered into an amended lease agreement, approved by the Interior Department that September. Under the amended arrangement, Westmoreland agreed to pay the
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