Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co.

What happened

Plains Commerce Bank, a non-Indian bank, sold land it owned in fee simple on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation to non-Indians. The Longs, an Indian couple who had been leasing the land with an option to buy, said the bank discriminated against them. They claimed the bank sold the parcel to nonmembers of the Tribe on terms more favorable than it offered them. (The Long Family Land and Cattle Company, incorporated in South Dakota, farms and ranches on the reservation.)

The Longs sued in tribal court. Over the bank's objection, the tribal court took the case. A jury ruled against the bank on three claims, including discrimination, and the court awarded damages. It also gave the Longs an option to buy the land they still occupied, which nullified part of the bank's sale to the non-Indian buyers. The bank then sued in federal court, which upheld tribal jurisdiction, and the Eighth Circuit affirmed.

On June 25, 2008, the Supreme Court reversed. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that "the Tribal Court did not have jurisdiction to adjudicate a discrimination claim concerning the non-Indian Bank's sale of its fee land." The Court said the general rule is that tribes lack authority over non-Indians within their borders, and that this rule is "particularly strong" when the activity is on land owned in fee simple by non-Indians. Under Montana v. United States (1981), two exceptions exist, and the Court found that neither let the Tribe regulate this sale. Because "a tribe's adjudicative jurisdiction does not exceed its legislative jurisdiction," the tribal court could not hear the claim.

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