ELR Citation: ELR 20075
No(s). 07-1410 (U.S. Apr 6, 2009)

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a Native American tribe is not entitled to damages under the Indian Tucker Act (ITA) for an asserted breach of fiduciary duty by the Secretary of the Interior in connection with his failure promptly to approve a royalty rate increase under a coal lease the tribe executed in 1964. In United States v. Navajo Nation, 537 U. S. 488 (2003), the Court explained that in order to invoke the ITA and thereby bypass federal sovereign immunity, a tribe "must identify a substantive source of law that establishes specific fiduciary or other duties, and allege that the government has failed faithfully to perform those duties." Holding that such duties were not imposed by the Indian Mineral Leasing Act of 1938, the Indian Mineral Development Act of 1982, or 25 U.S.C. §399, which concerns the leasing of unallotted mineral lands, the Court reversed a judgment for the tribe and remanded. The Court of Federal Claims then dismissed the tribe's claim, but the Federal Circuit reversed, finding violations of duties imposed by the Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act of 1950 and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, as well as common-law duties arising from the government's "comprehensive control" over tribal coal. Yet none of these laws apply to the lease at issue and, as such, fail to create a "limited trust relationship" in this case. The tribe's claim for compensation therefore fails. Scalia, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. Souter, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Stevens, J., joined.

[A prior decision in this litigation can be found at 32 ELR 20028.]