Cite as: 537 U. S. 488 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
be cognizable in the Court of Federal Claims if the claimant were not an Indian tribe, band, or group." 10
"If a claim falls within the terms of the [Indian] Tucker Act, the United States has presumptively consented to suit." Mitchell II, 463 U. S., at 216.
Although the Indian Tucker Act confers jurisdiction upon the Court of Federal Claims, it is not itself a source of substantive rights. Ibid.; see Mitchell I, 445 U. S., at 538. To state a litigable claim, a tribal plaintiff must invoke a rights-creating source of substantive law that "can fairly be interpreted as mandating compensation by the Federal Government for the damages sustained." Mitchell II, 463 U. S., at 218. Because "[t]he [Indian] Tucker Act itself provides the necessary consent" to suit, ibid., however, the rights-creating statute or regulation need not contain "a second waiver of sovereign immunity," id., at 218-219.
B
Mitchell I and Mitchell II are the pathmarking precedents on the question whether a statute or regulation (or combination thereof) "can fairly be interpreted as mandating compensation by the Federal Government." Mitchell II, 463 U. S., at 218.
In Mitchell I, we considered whether the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887 (GAA), 24 Stat. 388, as amended, 25 U. S. C. § 331 et seq. (1976 ed.) (§§ 331-333 repealed 2000), authorized an award of money damages against the United
10 The reference to claims "which otherwise would be cognizable in the Court of Federal Claims" incorporates the Tucker Act, 28 U. S. C. § 1491. See Mitchell II, 463 U. S., at 212, n. 8; Mitchell I, 445 U. S. 535, 539 (1980). The Tucker Act grants the Court of Federal Claims "jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim against the United States founded either upon the Constitution, or any Act of Congress or any regulation of an executive department, or upon any express or implied contract with the United States, or for liquidated or unliquidated damages in cases not sounding in tort." 28 U. S. C. § 1491(a)(1).
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