ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20120
No(s). 23-35543 and 23-35544 (9th Cir. Aug 22, 2025)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for American Indian tribes in a challenge to BLM's authorization of an exchange of land that was formerly part of the tribes' reservation. The tribes, which ceded that land to the U.S. government in an agreement ratified by Congress in 1900, argued the exchange contravened the 1900 Act's restrictions on disposal of the ceded lands. A district court held that because the exchange did not comply with the 1900 Act, BLM violated the APA and breached the government's trust responsibility to the tribes. The appellate court found the Act's plain text specified that ceded lands were subject to disposal only under homestead, townsite, stone and timber, and mining laws; BLM disposed of the ceded lands under FLPMA, which was not such a law. Moreover, the exchange was to facilitate the expansion of a phosphogypsum waste facility, which is not a purpose encompassed within those categories of laws. The court also found that FLPMA did not repeal or supersede the 1900 Act's restrictions, but to the extent it was ambiguous, the canon of construction that Congress must clearly express intent to abrogate a tribe’s treaty rights resolved any ambiguity in favor of the tribes' interpretation, given that Congress had not done so. It affirmed summary judgment for the tribes.