preemption

What happened

Preemption asks when federal law displaces state law. In Indian country, the Supreme Court has said the answer turns on a balance of interests. In White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker (1980), Arizona tried to tax a non-Indian logging company, Pinetop Logging Co., for felling tribal timber on the Fort Apache Reservation under a contract with the Tribe. The Court held the taxes were "pre-empted by federal law."

It explained that "The tradition of Indian sovereignty over the reservation and tribal members must inform the determination whether the exercise of state authority has been pre-empted." When a state asserts authority over non-Indians doing business on the reservation, "a particularized inquiry must be made into the nature of the state, federal, and tribal interests at stake." In Bracker, federal regulation of tribal timber and of roads was "so pervasive as to preclude the additional burdens sought to be imposed here."

California v. Cabazon Band (1987) restated the test: "State jurisdiction is pre-empted if it interferes or is incompatible with federal and tribal interests reflected in federal law, unless the state interests at stake are sufficient to justify the assertion of state authority."

The test is case-by-case. Congress can also decide the matter directly, as in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980, which makes state civil and criminal jurisdiction apply to many Indians and lands in Maine.

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