Cite as: 523 U. S. 696 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
Circuit said, "was already addressed" in Crow II. The Court of Appeals then recited passages from Crow II indicating why that court had determined that " 'the state tax[es] threaten[ed] Congress' overriding objective of encouraging tribal self-government and economic development.' " 969 F. 2d, at 848-849 (quoting Crow II, 819 F. 2d, at 903).
C
The District Court conducted a trial in April and May 1994 to determine whether coal taxes paid by Westmoreland to Montana and its counties in the years 1975-1982 unjustly enriched the State and its subdivisions at the expense of the Tribe. In detailed findings and conclusions, that court explained why, in its judgment, the disgorgement remedy sought by the Tribe was not appropriate. App. to Pet. for Cert. 17-38, 42-54.
The Tribe's case rested on three principal points: first, the fact, settled in Crow I, that the coal underlying the ceded strip was a mineral resource of the Tribe; second, the federal policy favoring tribal self-government and economic development; finally, the Ninth Circuit's preemption decision. Critical to the preemption decision, the District Court recognized, was the Court of Appeals' determination that "Montana's coal taxes burdened the Tribe's economic interests by increasing the costs of production by coal producers, which reduced royalties received by the Tribe." App. to Pet. for Cert. 45 (citing Crow II, 819 F. 2d, at 899).
Counterbalancing the Tribe's case, the District Court observed first that the State and its subdivisions, not the Tribe, provided "[p]ublic services to residents and businesses on the [c]eded [s]trip, many of which facilitate the mining of coal." App. to Pet. for Cert. 47; see supra, at 701, 703, n. 5. Key to the District Court's reasoning, however, was the respective taxing authority of State and Tribe.
In a decision rendered two years after the Ninth Circuit's Crow II preemption decision, this Court held that both State
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