394
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
in and for the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribes et al. 23-25, but our case law provides no basis to conclude that such a consensual relationship could never exist. Without a full understanding of the applicable relationships among tribal, state, and federal entities, there is no need to create a per se rule that forecloses future debate as to whether cooperative agreements, or other forms of official consent, could ever be a basis for tribal jurisdiction. Compare ante, at 359, n. 3, with ante, at 372.
The second Montana exception states that a tribe may regulate nonmember conduct where that conduct "threatens or has some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security, or the health or welfare of the tribe." 450 U. S., at 566. The majority concentrates on this aspect of Montana, asking whether "regulatory jurisdiction over state officers in the present context is 'necessary to protect tribal self-government or to control internal relations,' " and concludes that it is not. Ante, at 360.
At the outset, the Court recites relatively uncontroversial propositions. A tribe's right to make its own laws and be governed by them "does not exclude all state regulatory authority on the reservation"; a reservation " 'is considered part of the territory of the State' "; "States may regulate the activities even of tribe members on tribal land"; and the " 'process of [state] courts may run into [a] . . . reservation.' " Ante, at 361, 362, 363 (citations omitted).
None of "these prior statements," however, "accord[s]" with the majority's conclusion that "tribal authority to regulate state officers in executing process related to [an off-reservation violation of state law] is not essential to tribal self-government or internal relations." Ante, at 364. Our prior decisions are informed by the understanding that tribal, Federal, and State Governments share authority over tribal lands. See, e. g., Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico, 490 U. S. 163, 176-187 (1989) (concurrent jurisdiction of state and tribal governments to impose severance taxes
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