8/20/19
SEMINOLE V. BUTTERWORTH
• The Circuit court, relying on Bryan v. Itasca County , a Supreme Court decision unrelated to gaming, held: • The states lack jurisdiction over Indian reservation activity until granted that authority by the federal government. • Pursuant to the former Public Law 280, the State of Florida assumed criminal jurisdiction over reservation Indians to the full extent allowed by the law. • Although P.L. 280 granted states the right to exercise limited civil jurisdiction over the Indian tribes, such civil jurisdiction extends only to the extent necessary to resolve private disputes between Indians and Indians and private citizens. • P.L. 280 did not grant the state general civil regulatory jurisdiction. • The question thus becomes whether the statute in question represents an exercise of the state's regulatory or prohibitory authority. THE CABAZON DECISION The Cabazon and Morongo Bands of Mission Indians conduct bingo games open to the public. The Cabazon Band also operates a card club for playing draw poker and other card games. California sought to apply to the Tribes its statute governing the operation of bingo games. Riverside County also sought to apply its ordinances regulating bingo, poker, and other card games. The Tribes instituted an action for declaratory relief in Federal District Court, which entered summary judgment for the Tribes, holding that neither the State nor the county had any authority to enforce its gambling laws within the reservations.
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