286
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
Lands we evaluated prestatehood federal statutes without reference to inchoate proceedings lacking the force of law. 482 U. S., at 198-200 (discussing the impact on Utah's claim to certain submerged lands of the Sundry Appropriations Act of 1888, 25 Stat. 505, and the Sundry Appropriations Act of 1890, ch. 837, 26 Stat. 371). Cf. Montana, supra, at 550- 555 (considering whether certain treaties vested property rights in the Crow Indians). We thus wisely have not relied on this sort of evidence in the past, and it is unfortunate that we embark upon that route today.
Third, despite the critical relationship between submerged lands and sovereignty, the Court makes the unwarranted assumption that any use granted with respect to navigable waters must necessarily include reserving title to the submerged lands below them. As the Court previously has explained, the purpose underlying a reservation of territorial lands is often probative of federal intent. See, e. g., Alaska, 521 U. S., at 39. Even accepting the District Court's conclusions regarding the Tribe's dietary habits, and further accepting this Court's inference that Congress was concerned with the Tribe's access to navigable waters,3 it does
this language hardly compares to the precision employed in the Alaska Statehood Act. Indeed, every State admitted between the years 1889 and 1912 entered with such a disclaimer. See N. D. Const., Art. 16, § 2 (1889); S. D. Const., Art. XXII, § 18 (1889); Mont. Const., Ordinance I (1889); Wash. Const., Art. XXVI, § 2 (1889); Wyo. Const., Ordinance § 3 (1889); Utah Const., Art. III (1894); Okla. Const., Art. I, § 3 (1906); N. M. Const., Art. XXI, § 2 (1910); Ariz. Const., Art. XX, par. 4 (1910). Tellingly, in each of these Constitutions save Oklahoma's, the relevant language is identical to that in the Idaho Constitution. This disclaimer, in any event, simply begs the question whether submerged lands were in fact "owned or held" by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe upon Idaho's admission.
3 This inference may not be justified. Although Idaho apparently has conceded that the 1873 Executive Order included submerged lands within the reservation, that fact hardly confirms that Congress made a similar statement in simply authorizing negotiations with the Tribe. United States v. Alaska, 521 U. S. 1 (1997), moreover, indicates that it is at best
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