Case 1:25-cv-12578-RGS Document 41-1 Filed 10/16/25 Page 21 of 24
II. Ignoring the Applicability of IGRA Raises Serious Policy Concerns and Violates Federal Indian Policy Robinhood’s sports event contracts violate well-established federal Indian policy. The Supreme Court has “consistently recognized that Indian tribes retain ‘attributes of sovereignty over both their members and their territory.’” Cabazon , 480 U.S. at 207 (quoting United States v. Mazurie , 419 U.S. 544, 557 (1975)). Additionally, “the Constitution grants Congress broad general powers to legislate in respect to Indian tribes,” and those powers are “constantly described as plenary and exclusive.” United States v. Lara , 541 U.S. 193, 200 (2004). “And yet [Indian tribes] remain ‘separate sovereigns pre-existing the Constitution.’” Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Cmty. , 572 U.S. 782, 788 (2014) (quoting Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez , 436 U.S. 49, 56 (1978)). “A key goal of the Federal Government is to render tribes more self-sufficient, and better positioned to fund their own sovereign functions, rather than relying on federal funding.” Id. at 810 (Sotomayor, J., concurring) (citing 25 U.S.C. § 2702(1)). Congress has declared its commitment to supporting Tribal self-determination and self- governance, stating:
The Congress declares its commitment to the maintenance of the Federal Government’s unique and continuing relationship with, and responsibility to, individual Indian tribes and to the Indian people as a whole through the establishment of a meaningful Indian self- determination policy … [and] to supporting and assisting Indian tribes in the development of strong and stable tribal governments, capable of administering quality programs and developing the economies of their respective communities.
25 U.S.C. § 5302(b). The Executive Branch has consistently affirmed this policy. See e.g. , Exec. Order No. 13175, § 2(c), 65 Fed. Reg. 67,249 (Nov. 6, 2000); Exec. Order No. 13647, § 1(a), 78 Fed. Reg. 39,539 (June 26, 2013).
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