Court case
Lac du Flambeau Band v. Coughlin
The Bankruptcy Code abrogates tribal sovereign immunity, so a tribe's payday-loan business could be held to the automatic stay.
- Citation
- 599 U.S. ___ (2023), No. 22-227 [reporter page 599 U.S. 382 from-memory; matches Wikipedia infobox, secondary only; check bound volume]
- Court
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Year
- 2023
- Nations
- Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabe)
- Treaty at issue
- none
- Effect on land rights
- procedural
What happened
This case is about sovereign immunity and bankruptcy, not land. The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized tribe that wholly owns several business entities. In 2019, one of them, Lendgreen, let Brian Coughlin borrow $1,100 in a high-interest, short-term payday loan. Before he repaid it, Coughlin filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which triggers an automatic stay against further collection efforts by his creditors.
Lendgreen allegedly kept trying to collect. Coughlin asked the Bankruptcy Court to enforce the stay and award damages against Lendgreen, its parent corporations and the Band. The Bankruptcy Court dismissed the suit on tribal sovereign immunity grounds. The First Circuit reversed, concluding that the Code "unequivocally strips tribes of their immunity."
The Supreme Court affirmed in an opinion by Justice Jackson. It held that the Bankruptcy Code expressly abrogates the sovereign immunity of "governmental unit[s]" for specified purposes, and that the Code unambiguously does so for all governments, including federally recognized Indian tribes. The Code's definition of a governmental unit ends with the catchall "other foreign or domestic government." The Court said Congress must make its intent to abrogate "unmistakably clear," and found it did.
Justice Thomas concurred in the judgment, and Justice Gorsuch dissented.
Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error
What the sources say, and how this was checked
Well supported by the sources below.
The Bankruptcy Code expressly abrogates the sovereign immunity of “governmental unit[s]” for specified purposes.
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin, No. 22-227 (U.S. June 15, 2023) (supremecourt.gov slip opinion)The First Circuit reversed, concluding that the Code “unequivocally strips tribes of their immunity.”
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin, No. 22-227 (U.S. June 15, 2023) (supremecourt.gov slip opinion)allowed respondent Brian Coughlin to borrow $1,100 in the form of a high-interest, short-term loan
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin, No. 22-227 (U.S. June 15, 2023) (supremecourt.gov slip opinion)
Research notes. The slip opinion is marked 599 U.S. ____; reporter page 382 in our data was not shown and I did not open the bound volume. The syllabus line-breaks the holding ('sovereign im- munity'), so it is described rather than quoted. The old closing sentence about off-reservation commercial activity was removed as unsourced.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana
- Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan
- Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
- Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan
- Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana
- Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Working with these nations
- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Nation government Ojibwe treaty rights in ceded territories, natural resource stewardship, manoomin, and a Land Conservancy program… Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
- Native Land Conservancy (Massachusetts) Native-led Native-led land conservation Give on their site Website
- White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) Native-led Recover the original White Earth reservation land base Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named 3
- Anishinaabesuggested
- Chippewa (Ojibwe)suggested
- Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewasuggested
Doctrine applied 2
Policy era 1
Sources
- supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/599/22-227/legal text copy
The record’s fields
- Holding
- The Bankruptcy Code unequivocally abrogates sovereign immunity for all governmental units, including tribes. Jackson wrote for the Court; Thomas concurred in the judgment and Gorsuch dissented (8-1).
- Kind
- Court case
- Confidence
- High