Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978)

E613634

U.S. Supreme Court case federal Indian law case landmark decision

Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that held tribal courts lack criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians, significantly limiting Native American sovereignty and self-governance in criminal matters.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form	Occurrences
Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe	1

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	U.S. Supreme Court case ⓘ federal Indian law case ⓘ landmark decision ⓘ
areaOfLaw	criminal jurisdiction ⓘ federal Indian law ⓘ
arguedDate	1977-10-04 ⓘ 1977-10-05 ⓘ
characterization	judicially created limitation on tribal sovereignty ⓘ
citation	435 U.S. 191 ⓘ
constitutionalBasisDiscussed	U.S. Constitution Article I NERFINISHED ⓘ U.S. Constitution Article II NERFINISHED ⓘ U.S. Constitution Article III NERFINISHED ⓘ U.S. Constitution Article VI NERFINISHED ⓘ
courtTerm	1977 Term ⓘ
decisionDate	1978-03-06 ⓘ
dissentingJustices	Thurgood Marshall NERFINISHED ⓘ William J. Brennan Jr. NERFINISHED ⓘ
dissentingOpinionBy	Thurgood Marshall NERFINISHED ⓘ
geographicScope	Indian country in the United States ⓘ
hasJurisdiction	Supreme Court of the United States NERFINISHED ⓘ
holding	Criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians in Indian country rests with federal or state authorities unless Congress provides otherwise ⓘ Tribal courts lack inherent criminal jurisdiction to try and punish non-Indians ⓘ
impact	contributed to jurisdictional gaps in Indian country criminal justice ⓘ limited tribal sovereignty in criminal matters involving non-Indians ⓘ restricted tribal courts’ authority over non-Indian defendants ⓘ
jurisdictionType	appellate ⓘ
legalIssue	scope of inherent tribal sovereignty ⓘ tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians ⓘ
locationOfEvents	Port Madison Indian Reservation NERFINISHED ⓘ
majorityJustices	Byron R. White NERFINISHED ⓘ Harry A. Blackmun NERFINISHED ⓘ John Paul Stevens NERFINISHED ⓘ Lewis F. Powell Jr. NERFINISHED ⓘ Potter Stewart NERFINISHED ⓘ Warren E. Burger NERFINISHED ⓘ William H. Rehnquist NERFINISHED ⓘ
majorityOpinionBy	William H. Rehnquist NERFINISHED ⓘ
originatingCourt	Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals NERFINISHED ⓘ
page	191 ⓘ
petitioner	Mark David Oliphant NERFINISHED ⓘ
relatedCase	Duro v. Reina NERFINISHED ⓘ Montana v. United States NERFINISHED ⓘ United States v. Wheeler NERFINISHED ⓘ
relatedLegislation	Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 NERFINISHED ⓘ Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 NERFINISHED ⓘ
reporter	United States Reports ⓘ
respondent	Suquamish Indian Tribe NERFINISHED ⓘ
subsequentDevelopment	partially modified by congressional statutes restoring limited tribal criminal jurisdiction over some non-Indians ⓘ
tribeInvolved	Suquamish Tribe NERFINISHED ⓘ
volume	435 ⓘ

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Native American sovereignty → historicallyArticulatedIn → Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) ⓘ

United States federal Indian law and policy → shapedBy → Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) ⓘ

this entity surface form: Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe