388
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
application, see, e. g., South Dakota v. Bourland, 508 U. S. 679, 694-695, and n. 15 (1993), while in other cases we indicated that the fee simple status of the land triggered application of Montana, see, e. g., Strate v. A-1 Contractors, supra, at 454, and n. 8. This is the Court's first opportunity in recent years to consider whether Montana applies to non-member activity on land owned and controlled by the tribe. Cf. Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley, 532 U. S. 645 (2001).
The Court of Appeals concluded that Montana did not apply in this case because the events in question occurred on tribal land. 196 F. 3d 1020, 1028 (CA9 1999). Because Montana is our best source of "coherence in the various manifestations of the general law of tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians," Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley, supra, at 659 (Souter, J., concurring), the majority is quite right that Montana should govern our analysis of a tribe's civil jurisdiction over nonmembers both on and off tribal land. I part company with the majority, however, because its reasoning is not faithful to Montana or its progeny.
B
Montana's principles bear repeating. In Montana, the Court announced the "general proposition that the inherent sovereign powers of an Indian tribe do not extend to the activities of nonmembers of the tribe." 450 U. S., at 565. The Court further explained, however, that tribes do retain some attributes of sovereignty:
"To be sure, Indian tribes retain inherent sovereign power to exercise some forms of civil jurisdiction over non-Indians on their reservations, even on non-Indian fee lands. A tribe may regulate, through taxation, licensing, or other means, the activities of nonmembers who enter consensual relationships with the tribe or its members, through commercial dealing, contracts, leases, or other arrangements. A tribe may also retain inherent power to exercise civil authority over the conduct of
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