land into trust

What happened

When land is taken into trust, the United States holds title for a tribe or individual Indian. The source of authority is section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, now 25 U.S.C. 5108. It authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, "in his discretion," to acquire interests in lands "within or without existing reservations" for the purpose of providing land for Indians. Title "shall be taken in the name of the United States in trust for the Indian tribe or individual Indian for which the land is acquired, and such lands or rights shall be exempt from State and local taxation."

The process is run under Interior regulations at 25 CFR part 151. A 2023 revision aimed to make the "fee-to-trust" process more efficient, simpler and less expensive. The Bureau of Indian Affairs said in that rule that the average time to a final decision was then approximately 985 days.

Carcieri v. Salazar (2009) limited who can use it. The Court held that the IRA's phrase "now under Federal jurisdiction" refers to tribes under federal jurisdiction when the Act passed in 1934, so "the Secretary does not have the authority to take the 31-acre parcel into trust" for the Narragansett Tribe.

The Part 151 rule responds to that limit by describing categories of evidence of federal jurisdiction in or before 1934.

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