Bryan v. Itasca County, Minnesota
| Decision Date | 14 June 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 75-5027,75-5027 |
| Citation | 426 U.S. 373,48 L.Ed.2d 710,96 S.Ct. 2102 |
| Parties | Russell BRYAN, etc., Petitioner, v. ITASCA COUNTY, MINNESOTA |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Petitioner, an enrolled Chippewa Indian, brought this suit in state court seeking a declaratory judgment that the State of Minnesota and respondent county lacked authority to impose a personal property tax on his mobile home located on land held in trust for members of his tribe and that imposition of such a tax contravened federal law. The trial court rejected the contention. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the grant of civil jurisdiction to the State in § 4(a) of Pub.L. 280 includes taxing authority and since § 4(b) does not exempt nontrust property from such authority, the county had power to assess the tax. Section 4(a) gave various States, including Minnesota, with respect to all Indian country within the State except as specifically exempted "jurisdiction over civil causes of action between Indians or to which Indians are parties which arise in the areas of Indian country listed . . . to the same extent that such State . . . has jurisdiction over other civil causes of action, and those civil laws of such State . . . that are of general application to private persons or private property shall have the same force and effect within such Indian country as they have elsewhere within the State . . .." Though tax laws are not specifically mentioned, the State Supreme Court concluded that they were included since the exempting provision, § 4(b), does not exempt nontrust property, but states that "(n)othing in this section shall authorize the . . . taxation of any real or personal property . . . belonging to any Indian or any Indian tribe . . . that is held in trust by the United States . . .." Held: Public Law 280 did not grant States the authority to impose taxes on reservation Indians. Pp. 379-393.
(a) The central focus of Pub.L. 280, embodied in § 2 of the Act was to confer on the States criminal jurisdiction with respect to crimes involving Indians, and no mention was made of a congressional intent to authorize the States to tax Indians or Indian property on Indian reservations, a significant omission in light of applying the canons of construction to statutes affecting Indian immunities, where some mention would normally be expected had Congress contemplated a sweeping change in the status of reservation Indians. Pp. 379-383.
(b) Section 4(a) seems to have been intended primarily to provide a state forum for resolving legal disputes involving Indians pp. 383-386.
(c) When Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 amended Pub.L. 280 to require tribal consent to any new state jurisdiction Congress in effect characterized the relevant part of Pub.L. 280 as conferring the power to resolve private civil controversies, and the legislative history of Title IV would make it difficult to construe § 4 jurisdiction acquired pursuant to that Title as extending general state regulatory power, including taxing power, to govern Indian reservations. pp. 386-387.
(d) Public L. 280 was plainly not meant to effect total assimilation, and nothing in its legislative history suggests otherwise. The same Congress that enacted Pub.L. 280 also enacted several termination Acts, indicating that Congress well knew how directly to express its intent to confer upon the States general civil regulatory powers, including taxation. pp. 387-390.
(e) Section 4(b), which is "entirely consistent with, and in effect . . . a reaffirmation of, the law as it stood prior to its enactment," Kirkwood v. Arenas, 243 F.2d 863, 866 (CA9), should, as an admittedly ambiguous statute, be construed in favor of the Indians and against abolishing their tax immunities by implication. pp. 390-393.
303 Minn. 395, 228 N.W.2d 249, reversed.
Bernard P. Becker, St. Paul, Minn., for petitioner.
C. H. Luther, St. Paul, Minn., for respondent.
This case presents the question reserved in McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm'n, 411 U.S. 164, 178 n. 18, 93 S.Ct. 1257, 1265, 36 L.Ed.2d 129 (1973): whether the grant of civil jurisdiction to the States conferred by § 4 of Pub.L. 280, 67 Stat. 589, 28 U.S.C. § 1360, is a congressional grant of power to the States to tax reservation Indians except insofar as taxation is expressly excluded by the terms of the statute.
Petitioner Russell Bryan, an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, 1 resides in a mobile home on land held in trust by the United States for the Chippewa Tribe on the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota. In June 1972, petitioner received notices from the auditor of respondent Itasca County, Minn., that he had been assessed personal property tax liability on the mobile home totaling $147.95. Thereafter, in September 1972, petitioner brought this suit in the Minnesota District Court seeking a declaratory judgment that the State and county were without authority to levy such a tax on personal property of a reservation Indian on the reservation and that imposition of such a tax was contrary to federal law. The Minnesota District Court rejected the contention and entered judgment for respondent county. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed, 303 Minn. 395, 228 N.W.2d 249 (1975). We granted certiorari, 423 U.S. 923, 96 S.Ct. 265, 46 L.Ed.2d 249 (1975), and now reverse.
Principles defining the power of States to tax reserva- tion Indians and their property and activities on federally established reservations were clarified in McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm'n, supra. As summarized in its companion case, Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 93 S.Ct. 1267, 36 L.Ed.2d 114 (1973), McClanahan concluded:
"(I)n the special area of state taxation, absent cession of jurisdiction or other federal statutes permitting it, there has been no satisfactory authority for taxing Indian reservation lands or Indian income from activities carried on within the boundaries of the reservation, and McClanahan . . . lays to rest any doubt in this respect by holding that such taxation is not permissible absent congressional consent." Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, supra, at 148, 93 S.Ct., at 1270.2 .McClanahan held that Arizona was disabled in the absence of congressional consent from imposing a state income tax on the income of a reservation Indian earned solely on the reservation. On the authority of McClanahan, Moe v. Salish & Kootenai Tribes, 425 U.S. 463, 96 S.Ct. 1634, 48 L.Ed.2d 96 (1976), held this Term that in the absence of congressional consent the State was disabled from imposing a personal property tax on motor vehicles owned by tribal members living on the reservation, or a vendor license fee applied to a reservation Indian conducting a business for the tribe on reservation land, or a sales tax as applied to on-reservation sales by Indians to Indians.
Thus McClanahan and Moe preclude any authority in respondent county to levy a personal property tax upon petitioner's mobile home in the absence of congressional consent. Our task therefore is to determine whether § 4 of Pub.L. 280, 28 U.S.C. § 1360, constitutes such consent.
Section 4[a], 28 U.S.C. § 1360(a), provides:
The statute does not in terms provide that the tax laws of a State are among "civil laws . . . of general application to private persons or private property." The Minnesota Supreme Court concluded, however, that they were, finding in § 4(b) of the statute a negative implication of inclusion in § 4(a) of a general power of tax. Section 4(b), 28 U.S.C. § 1360(b), provides:
"Nothing in this section shall authorize the alienation, encumbrance, or taxation of any real or personal property, including water rights, belonging to any Indian or any Indian tribe, band, or community that is held in trust by the United States or is subject to a restriction against alienation imposed by the United States; or shall authorize regulation of the use of such property in a manner inconsistent with any Federal treaty, agreement, or statute or with any regulation made pursuant thereto; or shall confer jurisdiction upon the State to adjudicate, in probate proceedings or otherwise, the ownership or right to possession of such property or any interest therein."
The Minnesota Supreme Court reasoned that "unless paragraph (a) is interpreted as a general grant of the power to tax, then the exceptions contained in paragraph (b) are limitations on a nonexistent power." 303 Minn., at 402, 228 N.W.2d, at 253.3 Therefore, the state court held: "Public Law 280 is a clear grant of the power to tax." Id., at 406, 228 N.W.2d, at 256.4 We disagree. That conclusion foreclosed by the legislative history of Pub.L. 280 and the application of canons of construction applicable to congressional statutes claimed to terminate Indian immunities.
The primary concern of Congress in enacting Pub.L. 280 that emerges from its sparse legislative history was with the problem of lawlessness on certain Indian reservations, and the absence of adequate tribal institutions for law enforcement. See Goldberg, Public Law 280: The Limits of State Jurisdiction over Reservation Indians, 22 U.C.L.A.L.Rev. 535, 541-542 (1975). The House Report states:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Casey v. Kennedy
...“grant [s] jurisdiction over private civil litigation involving reservation Indians in state court.” Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 383, 385, 96 S.Ct. 2102, 48 L.Ed.2d 710 (1976). “[A]s to such private disputes, Public Law 280 provides not only for state court forum but also for appl......
-
Rincon Band of Luiseño Mission Indians of the Rincon Reservation Cal. v. Flynt
...tribal members as "private persons" in certain limited circumstances. (See 28 U.S.C. § 1360 ; Bryan v. Itasca County, Minnesota (1976) 426 U.S. 373, 383–385, fn. 10, 96 S.Ct. 2102, 48 L.Ed.2d 710 [analyzing the legislative history and purpose of 28 U.S.C. § 1360 and concluding its reach is ......
-
Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. State of SD
...S.Ct. 2267, 2271, 81 L.Ed.2d 113 (1984); Yakima Indian, 439 U.S. at 498-99, 99 S.Ct. at 760-61; Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 379-391, 96 S.Ct. 2102, 2106-07, 48 L.Ed.2d 710 (1976); Santa Rosa Band of Indians v. Kings County, 532 F.2d 655, 662-64 (9th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 429 U.......
-
People ex rel. Becerra v. Huber
...not grant these states general civil regulatory control over Indian tribes, the high court held in Bryan v. Itasca County (1976) 426 U.S. 373, 385, 96 S.Ct. 2102, 48 L.Ed.2d 710 ( Bryan ) that section 4 of Public Law 280 confers limited adjudicative jurisdiction to resolve private civil dis......
-
The Law and Economics of Crime in Indian Country
...with the federal government.”). 130. See Indian Relocation Act of 1956, Pub. L. No. 959, 70 Stat. 986. 131. Bryan v. Itasca Cnty., 426 U.S. 373, 379 (1976) (“The primary concern of Congress in enacting Pub. L. 280 that emerges from its sparse legislative history was with the problem of lawl......
-
Idaho nibbles at Montana: carving out a third exception for tribal jurisdiction over environmental and natural resource management.
...(62) Id. (63) 28 U.S.C. [sections] 1360(a) (1994) (listing the Public Law 280 states and effected tribes). But cf. Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 391 (1976) (holding section 4 of Public Law 280 did not confer taxing authority to states, but simply reaffirmed the existing tribal-feder......
-
Native Treaties and Conditional Rights After Herrera.
...liberally in favor of the Indians, with ambiguous provisions interpreted to their benefit." (citations omitted)); Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 392 (1976) ("[W]e must be guided by that 'eminently sound and vital canon' that 'statutes passed for the benefit of dependent Indian tribes......
-
Protecting habitat for off-reservation tribal hunting and fishing rights: tribal comanagement as a reserved right.
...v. Wold Eng'g, 476 U.S. 877, 891 (1986) (holding that Public Law 280 did not waive tribal sovereign immunity); Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 377 (1976) (holding that Public Law 280 did not extend state power to tax onto Indian lands); Menominee Tribe of Indians v. United States, 391......
-
316 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 21, § 009 Payments that Are Not Subject to Income Tax Withholding
...Sac and Fox Nation, 508 U.S. 114 (1993), McClanahan v Arizona State Tax Comm'n, 411 U.S. 164 (1973), and Bryan v Itaska County, Minnesota, 426 U.S. 373 (1976). October 26,...