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ARTICLE · 20 MARCH 2014

Interior’s "Carcieri" Opinion Means More Diligence For Trust Land Development Projects

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The Office of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior has issued a legal opinion interpreting the statutory phrase "under federal jurisdiction".

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector

The Office of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior has issued a legal opinion (the "Opinion") to the Secretary of the Interior interpreting the statutory phrase "under federal jurisdiction" in the Indian Reorganization Act, 25 U.S.C. § 461 et seq. (1934), (the "IRA").1 The Opinion is a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Carcieri v. Salazar, 555 U.S. 379 (2009) (hereinafter, "Carcieri"), which limited Secretarial authority to take land into trust for tribes to those tribes "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934. The Opinion advises the Department of the Interior ("Interior") that a tribe may be considered "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 if it can show:

  1. there is a sufficient showing in the tribe's history, at or before 1934, that it was under federal jurisdiction, i.e. whether the United States had in 1934 or at some point in the tribe's history prior to 1934, taken an action or series of actions through a course of dealings or other

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