Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. State of Tex.
| Decision Date | 24 October 1994 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 93-8477,93-8823 and 94-50130,s. 93-8477 |
| Citation | 36 F.3d 1325 |
| Parties | YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE OF TEXAS and Ann Richards, Governor, Defendants-Appellants. YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE OF TEXAS and Ann Richards, Governor, Defendants-Appellants. YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE OF TEXAS and Ann Richards, Governor, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Toni Hunter, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dan Morales, Atty. Gen., Austin, TX, for appellants.
Tom Diamond, Ronald Jackson, John R. Batoon, Thomas M. Diamond, Jr., El Paso, TX, for appellee.
Thomas F. Gede, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Sacramento, CA, amicus curiae.
Dickstein & Merin, Howard L. Dickstein, Frank R. Lawrence, Sacramento, CA, amicus curiae.
Thomas M. Diamond, Jr., El Paso, TX, for appellee in No. 94-50130.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before REYNALDO G. GARZA, DeMOSS, and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
Pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), 25 U.S.C. Secs. 2701-21, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo ("Tribe"), a federally recognized Indian tribe located near El Paso, Texas, sued the state of Texas ("State") and its governor for refusing to negotiate a compact that would permit the Tribe to engage in casino-type gambling on its reservation. Having concluded that neither IGRA nor the Restoration Act, 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1300g, barred the Tribe from engaging in such gambling, the district court granted the Tribe summary judgment. We hold that the Restoration Act, not IGRA, governs this dispute and does not give the Tribe the right to sue the State in federal court. We therefore reverse the district court's summary judgment for the Tribe and remand with instructions to dismiss the Tribe's suit.
Before analyzing the State's appeals, we first provide some background on the Restoration Act, IGRA, and the procedural history of this case.
In 1968, the federal government recognized the Tiwa Indians 1 of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo as an Indian tribe but simultaneously transferred responsibility for the Indians to the state of Texas. See Tiwa Indians Act, Pub.L. No. 90-287, 82 Stat. 93 (1968). Although the Tiwa Indians Act constituted legal recognition of the Indians, it had no practical effect on the relationship between the federal government and the Tribe because "[t]he Tribe had not been subject to federal supervision and had received no federal Indian services before the 1968 Act, and that status continue [sic] after its enactment." S. REP. NO. 90, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. 7 (1987). Instead, Texas administered the Tribe's affairs, which included holding the Tribe's 100-acre reservation in trust and providing economic development funds to the Tribe. H.R. REP. NO. 36, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. 2 (1987). Furthermore, the Tiwa Indians Act expressly recognized that the Tiwa Indians were "subject to all obligations and duties [as] citizens under the laws of the [s]tate of Texas." See Tiwa Indians Act.
In 1983, however, Texas became concerned that its trust relationship with the Tribe violated state constitutional law. H.R. REP. NO. 36, at 2. Consequently, the United States and the Tribe began the process of granting the Tribe federal trust status. In December 1985, the House of Representatives of the 99th Congress passed H.R. 1344, a bill to restore the trust relationship between the United States and the Tribe. With regard to gaming activities, Sec. 107 of H.R. 1344 provided:
Gaming, lottery or bingo on the tribe's reservation and on tribal lands shall only be conducted pursuant to a tribal ordinance or law approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Until amended as provided below, the tribal gaming laws, regulations and licensing requirements shall be identical to the laws and regulations of the State of Texas regarding gambling, lottery and bingo.
131 CONG.REC. H12012 (daily ed. Dec. 16, 1985) (text of H.R. 1344 as passed by the House). Notwithstanding Sec. 107, various state officials and members of Texas' congressional delegation still were concerned that H.R. 1344 did not provide adequate protection against high stakes gaming operations on the Tribe's reservation. Believing that restoration of their federal trust status was more important than exercising the option to operate gaming operations, the Tribe approved Resolution No. TC-02-86 in March 1986. 2 The resolution represented a political accommodation between the Tribe, the state of Texas, and various members of Texas' congressional delegation. The Tribe clearly viewed the applicability of state gaming laws on its reservation as an infringement on its sovereignty. But to ensure passage of the restoration legislation, the Tribe urged Congress to adopt "language which would provide that all gaming, gambling, lottery, or bingo, as defined by the laws and administrative regulations of the State of Texas, shall be prohibited on the Tribe's reservation or on tribal land." The distinction between the language in Sec. 107, as passed by the House, and the Tribe's suggested language is that Sec. 107 provided the Tribe with the option to deviate from Texas' gaming laws if the Tribe petitioned the secretary of Interior, the secretary approved, and Congress did not overrule the secretary. The Tribe's suggested language, on the other hand, established that Texas law with regard to gaming would effectively operate as surrogate federal law. The resolution also clearly indicates that the Tribe, at the time of the resolution's adoption, "ha[d] no interest in conducting high stakes bingo or other gambling operations on its reservation" and "remain[ed] firm in its commitment to prohibit outright any gambling or bingo in any form on its reservation."
The Senate of the 99th Congress incorporated the Tribe's suggested language. Section 107 of H.R. 1344, as passed by the Senate in September 1986, provided that "[g]aming, gambling, lottery or bingo as defined by the laws and administrative regulations of the State of Texas is hereby prohibited on the tribe's reservation and on tribal lands." 132 CONG.REC. S13634 (daily ed. Sept. 25, 1986) (text of H.R. 1344 as passed by the Senate). Shortly thereafter, however, the Senate vitiated action on H.R. 1344, see 132 CONG.REC. S13735 (daily ed. Sept. 25, 1986), whereupon the bill died.
The restoration legislation was reintroduced as H.R. 318 in the 100th Congress, and the House passed the bill in April 1987. Section 107 of H.R. 318 provided that, "[p]ursuant to Tribal Resolution T.C.-02-86 which was approved and certified on March 12, 1986, all gaming as defined by the laws of the State of Texas shall be prohibited on the tribal reservation and on tribal land." 133 CONG.REC. H2051 (daily ed. April 21, 1987) (text of H.R. 318 as passed by the House). The Senate approved H.R. 318 in July 1987. The Senate amended Sec. 107 to read:
All gaming activities which are prohibited by the laws of the State of Texas are hereby prohibited on the reservation and on lands of the tribe. Any violation of the prohibition provided in this subsection shall be subject to the same civil and criminal penalties that are provided by the laws of the State of Texas. The provisions of this subsection are enacted in accordance with the tribe's request in Tribal Resolution No. T.C.-02-86 which was approved and certified on March 12, 1986.
133 CONG.REC. S10568 (daily ed. July 23, 1987) (text of H.R. 318 as passed by the Senate). According to the Senate Report accompanying the legislation, the only difference between Sec. 107 as passed by the Senate and Sec. 107 as passed by the House was that the Senate version "expand[s] on the House version to provide that anyone who violates the federal ban on gaming contained in [Sec. 107] will be subject to the same civil and criminal penalties that are provided under Texas law." S.REP. NO. 90, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. 8-9 (1987). Otherwise, the report stated, the "central purpose" of the two versions was the same: "to ban gaming on the reservations as a matter of federal law." Id. at 8. The House concurred in the Senate's amendments in August 1987, see 133 CONG.REC. H6972 (daily ed. Aug. 3, 1987), whereupon H.R. 318 became public law 100-89. Section 107 of the Restoration Act is now codified at 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1300g-6. 3
In the midst of the 100th Congress' deliberations over the Restoration Act, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202, 107 S.Ct. 1083, 94 L.Ed.2d 244 (1987). In that case, two Indian tribes located in California were sponsoring unregulated gaming activities on their reservations. 4 The state of California attempted to enforce against the tribes a state statute regulating bingo operations. The tribes sued, asserting that California had no authority to enforce its gambling laws and regulations on tribal reservations because the United States, which has plenary power over Indian affairs, had not authorized California to do so. California argued that, pursuant to Public Law 280 of 1953, 5 the United States had expressly authorized California to enforce its bingo statute against the tribes. Public Law 280 specifically granted California authority to (1) enforce its criminal laws on Indian reservations, 6 and (2) hear in its courts civil causes of action in which an Indian is a party. 7 California argued in Cabazon Band that its bingo statute was a criminal law which could be enforced on Indian reservations. 8
The Supreme Court disagreed. The Court began by noting that, while Public Law 280 broadened California's authority with regard to Indian reservations, Congress did not intend to grant it general civil regulatory authority. Public Law 280, the Court reasoned, was narrowly tailored to combat lawlessness on reservations and not "to effect total assimilation of Indian...
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