Cite as: 533 U. S. 262 (2001)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
itself did authorize negotiations with the Tribe in 1886 and 1889, but those Acts expressly provided that any resulting agreements were not binding "until ratified by Congress." Act of May 15, 1886, 24 Stat. 44, App. 51; Act of Mar. 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 1002, App. 144. And it is undisputed that ratification did not occur before Idaho gained admission. The Court, however, is willing to divine congressional intent to withhold submerged lands from the State from what are best described as inchoate prestatehood proceedings. In the Court's view it is sufficient that one House of Congress had acted to approve the agreements and that the other was in the process of considering similar legislation. See ante, at 278. The Court thus speaks of the "final" ratification of the 1887 and 1889 negotiations as if the official approval of both Houses of Congress was but a mere formality. Ibid. But see U. S. Const., Art. I, § 7, cl. 2. But the indisputable fact remains that, as of July 3, 1890, "Congress" had passed the Idaho Statehood Act but had not ratified the 1887 and 1889 agreements.
Nor do our prior decisions in this area support the Court's decision to wander so far afield. In Alaska, we evaluated the impact of an express provision in the Alaska Statehood Act, Pub. L. 85-508, 72 Stat. 347, reserving certain lands for the United States. 521 U. S., at 41-42. There the evidence that "Congress expressed a clear intent to defeat state title" to submerged lands came in the form of a duly passed federal statute rather than as inferences drawn from preludes to future congressional Acts. Id., at 41. Indeed, that Statehood Act abounds in specificity, in § 11(b) directly identifying the Reserve, and in § 6(e) defining other reserved lands in some detail.2 So, too, in Utah Division of State
2 Again, the Court's reliance on language contained in the Idaho State-hood Act affirming the Idaho Constitution is unavailing. See ante, at 270. Clauses indicating that the entering State "forever disclaims all right and title to . . . all lands . . . owned or held by any Indians or Indian tribes" were boilerplate formulations at the time, and the inclusion of
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