398
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
eral court should stay its hand and not decide the immunity issues while reviewing the Tribal Court's jurisdiction. 944 F. Supp., at 1468-1469, and n. 26. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, concluding that the District Court correctly applied the exhaustion requirement to the immunity issues. 196 F. 3d, at 1029-1031. In my view, the Court of Appeals misunderstood our precedents when it refused to consider the state officials' immunity claims as it reviewed the Tribal Court's civil jurisdiction.
In determining the relationship between tribal courts and state and federal courts, we have developed a doctrine of exhaustion based on principles of comity. See, e. g., Iowa Mut. Ins. Co. v. LaPlante, 480 U. S. 9 (1987); National Farmers Union Ins. Cos. v. Crow Tribe, 471 U. S. 845 (1985). In National Farmers Union, a member of the Tribe sued the local school district, an arm of the State, in a personal injury action. Id., at 847. The defendants sued in federal court challenging the Tribal Court's jurisdiction. The District Court concluded that the Tribal Court lacked jurisdiction and enjoined the Tribal Court proceedings. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to enter the injunction.
We reversed the Court of Appeals' conclusion that the District Court lacked jurisdiction over the federal action. We explained that the "extent to which Indian tribes have retained the power to regulate the affairs of non-Indians" is governed by federal law. Id., at 851-852. Likewise, "[t]he question whether an Indian tribe retains the power to compel a non-Indian property owner to submit to the civil jurisdiction of a tribal court is one that must be answered by reference to federal law," and therefore district courts may determine under 28 U. S. C. § 1331 whether a tribal court has exceeded the lawful limits of its jurisdiction. 471 U. S., at 852.
We refused to foreclose entirely the civil jurisdiction of tribal courts over nonmembers as we had foreclosed inherent
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