Cite as: 523 U. S. 751 (1998)
Stevens, J., dissenting
however, normally depends on the second sovereign's law. Schooner Exchange v. McFaddon, 7 Cranch 116, 136 (1812). An Indian tribe's assertion of immunity in a state judicial proceeding is unique because it implicates the law of three different sovereigns: the tribe itself, the State, and the Federal Government.
As the Court correctly observes, the doctrine of tribal immunity from judicial jurisdiction "developed almost by accident." Ante, at 756. Its origin is attributed to two federal cases involving three of the Five Civilized Tribes. The former case, Turner v. United States, 248 U. S. 354 (1919), rejected a claim against the Creek Nation, whose tribal government had been dissolved. The Court explains why that case provides no more than "a slender reed" of support for the doctrine even in federal court. Ante, at 757. In the latter case, United States v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 309 U. S. 506 (1940) (USF&G), the Federal Government sought to recover royalties due under coal leases that the United States had executed on behalf of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. The Court held that the Government's action was not barred by a prior judgment against it entered by a different federal court. The holding that the prior judgment was "void in so far as it undertakes to fix a credit against the Indian Nations," id., at 512, rested on two grounds. First, in a companion case decided that day,1 the Court ruled that "cross-claims against the United States are justiciable only in those courts where Congress has consented to their consideration," ibid.; but no statute had authorized the prior adjudication of the cross-claim against the Federal Government. The second ground was the statement, supported by a citation of Turner and two Eighth Circuit decisions addressing the immunity of two of the Five Civilized Tribes, that "[t]hese Indian Nations are exempt from suit without Congressional authorization." 309 U. S.,
1 United States v. Shaw, 309 U. S. 495 (1940).
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