Carcieri v. Salazar

What happened

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 lets the Secretary of the Interior take land into trust for "Indians," a term the Act defines to include members of any "recognized Indian tribe now under Federal jurisdiction."

The Narragansett Tribe was placed under the formal guardianship of the Colony of Rhode Island in 1709. In 1880 it agreed to relinquish its tribal authority and sell all but two acres of its remaining reservation land. In a 1978 settlement it received 1,800 acres in Charlestown, in exchange for giving up claims to state land, and agreed that the land would be subject to state law. The United States formally recognized the Tribe in 1983.

The Tribe later bought 31 more acres and planned to build housing. While litigation over local regulations was pending, the Secretary accepted the 31-acre parcel into trust. Rhode Island, its Governor and the town of Charlestown challenged that decision. The Supreme Court held that "now" in the statute means 1934, when Congress passed the Act. The Narragansett Tribe was not under federal jurisdiction then, so the Secretary lacked authority to take the parcel into trust. The Court found the statute's text unambiguous, so it did not defer to the Secretary's reading. A 2016 federal district court decision about land for the Mashpee Wampanoag noted that, as in Carcieri, the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction in 1934.

Good to know. 'Under federal jurisdiction' is a legal test the Court read as of 1934; the ruling does not say the Narragansett were not a tribe.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error