Cass County v. Chippewa Indians

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Thomas
• Citation: Cass County v. Chippewa Indians, 524 U.S. 103, 118 S.Ct. 1904, 141 L.Ed.2d 90 (1998)
• Decision Date: 08 June 1998
• Docket Number: 97174
• Parties: 108 F.3d 820, reversed in part. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 118 S.Ct. 1904 141 L.Ed.2d 90174 CASS COUNTY, MINNESOTA, et al., PETITIONERS v. LEECH LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT [

524 U.S. 103

118 S.Ct. 1904

141 L.Ed.2d 90

108 F.3d 820, reversed in part

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

118 S.Ct. 1904

141 L.Ed.2d 90

No. 97 174

CASS COUNTY, MINNESOTA, et al., PETITIONERS v. LEECH LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

[June 8, 1998]

Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

We granted certiorari in this case to resolve whether state and local governments may tax reservation land that was made alienable by Congress and sold to non-Indians by the Federal Government, but was later repurchased by a tribe. We hold that ad valorem taxes may be imposed upon such land because, under the test established by our precedents, Congress has made "unmistakably clear" its intent to allow such taxation.

I

The Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Indian tribe. The Leech Lake Reservation, which today encompasses 588,684 acres within the northern Minnesota counties of Cass, Itasca, and Beltrami, was established by federal treaty in 1855 and was augmented by subsequent treaties and executive orders.

During the late 19th century, the Federal Government changed its policy of setting aside reservation lands exclusively for Indian tribes under federal supervision. The new "allotment" policy removed significant portions of reservation land from tribal ownership and federal protection, allotting some parcels to individual Indians in fee simple and providing for other parcels to be sold to non-Indians. See County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Nation, 502 U.S. 251, 253 254 (1992); F. Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian Law 127 138 (1982). The purpose of the policy was to assimilate Indians into American society and to open reservation lands to ownership by non-Indians. Id., at 128.

Most of the allotments made by the Federal Government were implemented pursuant to the General Allotment Act of 1887 (GAA), 24 Stat. 388, as amended, 25 U.S.C. § 331 et seq. Section 5 of the GAA provided that parcels of tribal land would be patented to individual Indians and held in trust by the United States for a 25-year period, after which the Federal Government would convey title to the individual allottees

"in fee, discharged of said trust and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever. . . . And if any conveyance shall be made of the lands set apart and allotted as herein provided, or any contract made touching the same, before the expiration of the time above mentioned, such conveyance or contract shall be absolutely null and void. . . ." 25 U.S.C. § 348.

Section 6 of the GAA, as originally enacted in 1887, provided that "each and every member of the respective bands or tribes of Indians to whom allotments have been made shall have the benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the State or Territory in which they may reside." 24 Stat. 388. In 1905, this Court interpreted §6 to mean that Indian allottees were subject to plenary state jurisdiction immediately upon issuance of the trust patent. See In re Heff, 197 U.S. 488 (1905).

The following year, Congress reversed the result of In re Heff by passing the Burke Act, 34 Stat. 182, 25 U.S.C. § 349 which amended §6 of the GAA to provide that state jurisdiction did not attach until the end of the 25-year trust period, when the lands were conveyed to the Indians in fee. The Burke Act also contained a proviso to the effect that the Secretary of the Interior could, if "satisfied that any Indian allottee is competent and capable of managing his or her affairs," authorize issuance of a fee simple patent to the land before the end of the usual trust period, "and thereafter all restrictions as to sale, incumbrance, or taxation of said land shall be removed . . . ." Ibid.

For the Leech Lake Band and other Chippewa tribes in Minnesota, the allotment policy was implemented through the Nelson Act of 1889. 25 Stat. 642. The Nelson Act provided for the "complete cession and relinquishment" of tribal title to all reservation land in the state of Minnesota, except for parts of two reservations, to the United States. After such "complete cession and relinquishment," which "operate[d] as a complete extinguishment of Indian title," the lands were to be disposed of in one of three ways: under §3, the United States would allot parcels to individual tribe members as provided in the GAA; under §§4 and 5, so-called "pine lands" (surveyed 40-acre lots with standing or growing pine timber) were to be sold by the United States at public auction to the highest bidder; and under §6, the remainder of the reservation land (called "agricultural lands") was to be sold by the United States to non-Indian settlers under the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862, 12 Stat. 392.

In 1934, federal Indian policy shifted dramatically when Congress enacted the Indian Reorganization Act, ch. 576, 48 Stat. 984, 25 U.S.C. § 461 et seq., which ended the practice of making federal allotments to individual Indians. Although the Reorganization Act did not repeal allotment statutes such as the Nelson Act, it extended the trust period for lands already allotted but not yet fee-patented, provided that unallotted surplus lands would be restored to tribal ownership, and allowed additional lands "within or without existing reservations" to be acquired by the Federal Government for the tribes. See §§461, 462, 463, 465.

In 1977, the Leech Lake Band and individual Band members owned only about 27,000 acres less than five percent of Leech Lake Reservation land. See State v. Forge, 262 N.W. 2d 341, 343, and n. 1 (Minn. 1977). Since then, the Leech Lake Band has sought to re-establish its land base by purchasing back parcels of reservation land that were allotted to individual Indians or sold to non-Indians during the allotment period.

In 1992, we held in County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Nation, supra, that a county could assess ad valorem taxes on reservation land owned in fee by individual Indians or the tribe and originally made alienable when patented in fee simple under the GAA.

In 1993, Cass County began assessing ad valorem taxes on 21 parcels of reservation land that had been alienated from tribal control under the various provisions of the Nelson Act and later reacquired by the Leech Lake Band. Thirteen of the parcels had been allotted to individual Indians under §3; seven had been sold to non-Indians as pine lands under §§4 and 5 for commercial timber harvest; and one parcel had been distributed to a non-Indian under §6 as a homestead plot. Under protest and to avoid foreclosure, the Leech Lake Band paid more than $64,000 in taxes, interest, and penalties.

In 1995, the Band filed suit in federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that Cass County could not tax the 21 parcels.1 The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Cass County, holding that all of the land that had been alienated from tribal ownership under the Nelson Act was taxable. 908 F. Supp. 689 (Minn. 1995). The District Court interpreted our decision in Yakima to mean that "if Congress has made Indian land freely alienable, states may tax the land" that is, "alienability equals taxability." Id., at 693.

A divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part. 108 F.3d 820 (1997). Noting that Yakima reaffirmed prior statements by this Court indicating that Congress must make "unmistakably clear" its intent to subject reservation lands to state or local taxation, 108 F.3d, at 826, the panel majority held that the 13 parcels allotted to individual Indians under §3 of the Nelson Act could be taxed so long as the District Court confirmed on remand that they had been patented after passage of the Burke Act proviso, because the explicit mention of "taxation" in the proviso manifested the necessary "unmistakably clear" intent. Id., at 827, 829 830. But the panel majority further held that the eight parcels sold as pine lands or homestead land under §§4 6 of the Nelson Act could not be taxed because those sections, "unlike §3, did not incorporate the GAA or include any mention of an intent to tax lands distributed under them which might become reacquired by the Band in fee." Id., at 829.

Judge Magill concurred with the majority on the taxability of the 13 allotted parcels, but he dissented from the holding that the remaining 8 parcels were not also taxable. In his view, Yakima propounded "the clear rule . . . that alienability allows taxation." Id., at 831.

We granted certiorari, 522 U.S. ___ (1997), to decide whether Cass County may impose its ad valorem property tax on the seven parcels sold as pine lands and the one sold as a homestead to non-Indians.2

II

State and local governments may not tax Indian reservation land " 'absent cession of jurisdiction or other federal statutes permitting it.' " County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Nation, 502 U.S., at 258 (quoting Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 148 (1973)). We have consistently declined to find that Congress has authorized such taxation unless it has " 'made its intention to do so unmistakably clear.' " Yakima, supra, at 258 (quoting Montana v. Blackfeet Tribe, 471 U.S. 759, 765 (1985)). We have determined that Congress has manifested such an intent when it has authorized reservation lands to be allotted in fee to individual Indians, thus making the lands freely alienable and withdrawing them from federal protection. This was the case in both Yakima and Goudy v. Meath, 203 U.S. 146 (1906), in which this Court held that land, allotted and patented in fee to individual Indians and thus rendered freely alienable after the expiration of federal trust status, was subject to county ad valorem taxes even though it was within a reservation and held by either individual Indians or a tribe.

In Goudy, Congress...