Florida v. Seminole Tribe

Citation181 F.3d 1237
Decision Date20 July 1999
Docket NumberNo. 97-5361,97-5361
Parties(11th Cir. 1999) STATE OF FLORIDA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SEMINOLE TRIBE OF FLORIDA, JAMES E. BILLIE, Chairman, Defendants-Appellees
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)

D.C. Docket No. 96-Civ-2063-UUB

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Before TJOFLAT and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges, and KRAVITCH, Senior Circuit Judge.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

This case, which involves alleged class III tribal gaming activity as defined by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ("IGRA"),1 demonstrates the continuing vitality of the venerable maxim that turnabout is fair play. In 1994, we held that the principle of state sovereign immunity embodied in the Eleventh Amendment barred the Seminole Tribe of Florida ("the Tribe") from suing the State of Florida under 25 U.S.C. 2710(d)(7)(A)(i) (1994) for the State's alleged failure to negotiate in good faith regarding the formation of a Tribal-State compact to regulate class III gaming. See Seminole Tribe v. Florida, 11 F.3d 1016, 1029 (11th Cir. 1994), aff'd, 517 U.S. 44, 116 S. Ct. 1114, 134 L. Ed. 2d 252 (1996). In this case, the State has sued the Tribe and its Chairman, James E. Billie, for both a declaration that the Tribe is conducting unauthorized class III gaming operations and an injunction preventing such operations in the absence of a Tribal-State compact. The district court granted the Tribe's motion to dismiss on the ground of tribal sovereign immunity, and granted Chairman Billie's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. We affirm.

I.

The relevant facts may be briefly stated. The State commenced this action on July 29, 1996, and filed its amended complaint - the pleading at issue here - on September 9. In this complaint, the State alleged2 that the Tribe was operating "electronic or electromechanical facsimiles of games of chance" and that such operations constituted class III gaming as defined by IGRA. See 25 U.S.C. 2703(7)(B)(ii), (8) (1994). The Tribe operated these games despite the absence of a compact between the Tribe and the State regarding the regulation of class III gaming. The State also alleged that the Tribe planned to construct a new facility on its lands in order to conduct additional class III gaming.

According to the State's complaint, the operation of such games without a Tribal-State compact violates both federal and state law. In support of this claim, the State first points to IGRA's rule that "[c]lass III gaming activities shall be lawful on Indian lands only if such activities are . . . conducted in conformance with a Tribal-State compact entered into by the Indian tribe and the State under [section 2710(d)(3)] that is in effect." 25 U.S.C. 2710(d)(1)(C) (1994). Second, the State contends that the Tribe's games are "gambling devices" within the meaning of 15 U.S.C. 1171(a) (1994), and thus that 15 U.S.C. 1175(a) (1994) makes it a crime to possess or use them within Indian country. IGRA creates an exception to this prohibition by providing that section 1175 "shall not apply to any gaming conducted under a Tribal-State compact that - (A) is entered into . . . by a State in which gambling devices are legal, and (B) is in effect." 25 U.S.C. 2710(d)(6) (1994). The State argues, however,that this exception is inapplicable both because it has no compact with the Tribe and because the Tribe's games constitute illegal "slot machines" under Florida law. See Fla. Stat. ch. 849.15-16 (1997) (making it a crime, inter alia, to "possess" or "permit the operation of" such machines). Finally, the State contends that the Tribe has committed additional federal crimes by violating this state-law ban on slot machines, which applies to the Tribe's lands for purposes of federal law. See 18 U.S.C. 1166 (1994) (applying state laws regulating or prohibiting gambling to Indian country for purposes of federal law, defining - by reference to state gambling laws - independent federal offenses involving gambling in Indian country, and granting the United States exclusive jurisdiction over criminal prosecutions for violating state gambling laws unless a tribe consents to state jurisdiction); 18 U.S.C. 1955 (1994) (criminalizing a "gambling business" conducted in violation of state law).

Based on these factual allegations and arguments, the State asked the district court to declare that the Tribe was conducting unauthorized class III gambling operations in the absence of a Tribal-State compact, and to enjoin the Tribe from conducting any such operations without a compact.3 On October 10, 1996, the Tribe and Chairman Billie moved to dismiss the State's amended complaint on the following grounds: tribal sovereign immunity, lack of standing, and failure to state a claim. The district court granted this motion on June 15, 1997. The court found that the State's action was barred as to the Tribe because the Tribe had not expressly agreed to waive its sovereign immunity. The court also concluded that the State had failed to state a claim against Chairman Billie because there was no implied right of action under IGRA for declaratory or injunctive relief against unlawful class III gaming. This appeal followed.

II.

On appeal, the State challenges both the district court's finding of tribal sovereign immunity and its conclusion that the State failed to state a claim against Chairman Billie. We review the district court's rulings on these two questions of law de novo.4 See Tamiami Partners Ltd. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, No. 96-5262, 177 F.3d 1212, __,__ (11th Cir. 1999) [slip op. 2751, 2764; June 7, 1999]; Womack v. Runyon, 147 F.3d 1298, 1299 (11th Cir. 1998).

A.

"Indian tribes have long been recognized as possessing the common-law immunity from suit traditionally enjoyed by sovereign powers." Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 58, 98 S. Ct. 1670, 1677, 56 L. Ed. 2d 106 (1978). A suit against an Indian tribe is therefore barred unless the tribe clearly waived its immunity or Congress expressly abrogated that immunity by authorizing the suit. See Kiowa Tribe v. Manufacturing Techs., Inc., 523 U.S. 751, 118 S. Ct. 1700, 1702, 140 L. Ed. 2d 981 (1998); Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe, 498 U.S. 505, 509, 111 S. Ct. 905, 909, 112 L. Ed. 2d 1112 (1991); Florida Paraplegic Ass'n v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, 166 F.3d 1126, 1130-31 (11th Cir. 1999).

As we read its briefs on appeal, the State offers three theories to support its argument that the Tribe's sovereign immunity does not bar this suit: (1) Congress abrogated tribal immunity from state suits that seek declaratory or injunctive relief for alleged tribal violations of IGRA; (2) the Tribe, by electing to engage in gaming under IGRA, waived its immunity from a suit to require compliance with the statutory conditions precedent to class III gaming; and (3) tribal immunity does not necessarily extend to actions seeking prospective equitable relief. Although some courts have muddled the distinctions among these theories,5 they are actually quite different and will be considered separately here.

1.

We have previously held that "Congress abrogates tribal immunity only where the definitive language of the statute itself states an intent either to abolish Indian tribes' common law immunity or to subject tribes to suit under the act." Florida Paraplegic Ass'n, 166 F.3d at 1131. In IGRA, Congress abrogated tribal immunity by authorizing a state to sue a tribe in district court "to enjoin a class III gaming activity located on Indian lands and conducted in violation of any Tribal-State compact entered into under [section 2710(d)(3)] that is in effect." 25 U.S.C. 2710(d)(7)(A)(ii) (1994). The State, citing Mescalero Apache Tribe v. New Mexico, 131 F.3d 1379, 1385-86 (10th Cir. 1997), argues that this provision of IGRA evinces a broad congressional intent to abrogate tribal immunity from any state suit that seeks declaratory or injunctive relief for an alleged tribal violation of IGRA. We disagree.

As an initial matter, we find that Mescalero provides no support for the State's argument. The Mescalero panel, in discussing section 2710(d)(7)(A)(ii), claimed that a majority of courts agree that "IGRA [abrogated6] tribal sovereign immunity in the narrow category of cases where compliance with IGRA's provisions is at issue and where only declaratory or injunctive relief is sought." 131 F.3d at 1385. In actuality, however, the cases that the panel cited in support of its claim addressed an entirely different matter, to wit: whether a tribe voluntarily waives its own sovereign immunity by engaging in gaming under IGRA. See infra part II.A.2. (discussing tribal waiver of immunity). In light of this absence of supporting authority, we find the Mescalero panel's claim difficult to credit.

Moreover, we conclude that the panel's claim - and thus the State's argument in favor of a broad reading of section 2710(d)(7)(A)(ii) - directly contradicts two well-established principles of statutory construction: that Congress may abrogate a sovereign's immunity only by using statutory language that makes its intention unmistakably clear,7 and that ambiguities in federal laws implicating Indian rights must be resolved in the Indians' favor. See Florida Paraplegic Ass'n, 166 F.3d at 1131 (citing Atascadero State Hosp. v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 242, 105 S. Ct. 3142, 3147, 87 L. Ed. 2d 71 (1985); Montana v. Blackfeet Tribe of Indians, 471 U.S. 759, 766, 105 S. Ct. 2399, 2403, 85 L. Ed. 2d 753 (1985)). When section 2710(d)(7)(A)(ii) of IGRA is read in light of these principles, it becomes clear that Congress abrogated tribal immunity only in the narrow circumstance in which a tribe conducts class III gaming in violation of an existing Tribal-State compact. Cf. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians v. Wilson, 124 F.3d 1050, 1059-60...

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