Cite as: 523 U. S. 696 (1998)
Opinion of Souter, J.
pending case. See supra, at 708, n. 8. Proceeding as it did, the District Court ignored no tenable "law of the case" and did not indulge in an "abuse of discretion." See Crow IV, 92 F. 3d, at 829, 830.
As a result of the District Court's orders for registry deposits, see supra, at 705, the Tribe has displaced Montana to this extent: With respect to ceded strip mining operations, all severance taxes have gone to the Tribe since January 1983, and all gross proceeds taxes since November 1987. Montana's retention of preregistry deposit taxes must be assessed in light of the court-ordered distribution of all funds in the registry to the United States, as trustee for the Tribe. See supra, at 707. The District Court, best positioned to make that assessment, was obliged to do so based on the case and proof the parties presented. The Tribe and the United States here argued for total disgorgement. They did not develop a case for relief of a different kind or size. While we do not foreclose the District Court from any course the Federal Rules and that court's thorough grasp on this litigation lead it to take, we are satisfied that the Court of Appeals improperly overturned the District Court's judgment.
* * *
For the reasons stated, the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
Justice Souter, with whom Justice O'Connor joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The Court's meticulous treatment of this exhausting litigation, including its discussion of the way Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico, 490 U. S. 163, 186, n. 17 (1989), bears on Crow Tribe v. Montana, 819 F. 2d 895 (CA9 1987) (Crow II), summarily aff'd, 484 U. S. 997 (1988), shows the error of
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