Brendale v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation

What happened

The treaty between the United States and the Yakima Indian Nation, signed in 1855 and ratified by the Senate in 1859, provided that the Nation would keep its reservation for its "exclusive use and benefit." About 80 percent of the reservation land is held in trust for the Nation or its members. The rest is owned in fee by Indian or non-Indian owners, mostly in three towns and otherwise scattered in a "checkerboard" pattern.

The reservation has a "closed area," closed to the general public, and an "open area," which is not. Two non-member landowners, Brendale in the closed area and Wilkinson in the open area, wanted to develop their land. The Nation's zoning ordinance covered all fee land on the reservation, and the county's zoning ordinance applied as well. The Nation sued.

The justices could not agree on one opinion. Four, in an opinion by Justice White, held the Nation cannot zone fee land owned by non-members, because allotment and later sales meant the Nation no longer retains "exclusive use and benefit" of it. Justice Stevens, joined by Justice O'Connor, found the Nation could zone the closed area, which it has kept as an undeveloped refuge, but not the open area.

The combined result was that the Nation zones the closed area and the county zones the open area. Brendale is a leading case on how allotment and later sales of land inside reservations narrow tribal civil authority over non-members.

Good to know. No single opinion won a majority; the outcome comes from combining the justices' separate opinions. The opinion uses 'Yakima'; the nation's current name is Yakama.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error