United States, Petitioner v. Tohono O'odham Nation (563 U.S. 307)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 26, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 563 U.S. 307 · 131 S. Ct. 1723
- Decided
- April 26, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 7–1
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. The Tohono O’odham Nation (Nation) is an Indian Tribe with federal recognition. The Nation’s main reservation is in the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona. Counting this and other reservation lands, the Nation’s landholdings are approximately 3 million acres. The Nation brought two actions based on the same alleged violations of fiduciary duty with respect to the Nation’s lands and other assets. One action was filed against federal officials in District Court and the other against the United States in the Court of Federal Claims (CFC). The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the CFC suit was not barred by the rule that the CFC lacks jurisdiction over an action “for or in respect to” a claim that is also the subject of an action pending in another court. 28 U. S. C. § 1500. The question presented is whether a common factual basis like the one apparent in the Nation’s suits suffices to bar jurisdiction under § 1500. I The case turns on the relationship between the two suits the Nation filed. The first suit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against federal officials responsible for managing tribal assets held in trust by the Federal Government. The complaint alleged various violations of fiduciary duty with respect to those assets. The Nation claimed, for example, that the…
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