Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin | |
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Argued April 24, 2023 Decided June 15, 2023 | |
Full case name | Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin |
Docket no. | 22-227 |
Citations | 599 U.S. 382 ( more ) |
Argument | Oral argument |
Holding | |
Native American Tribes are not immune from the automatic stay of the Bankruptcy Code | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Jackson, joined by Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, Barrett |
Concurrence | Thomas (in judgment) |
Dissent | Gorsuch |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Bankruptcy Code |
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin, 599 U.S. 382 (2023), was a United States Supreme Court case which determined that Native Americans Tribes are not immune from the automatic stay of the Bankruptcy Code.
Brian Coughlin obtained a payday loan from Lendgreen, an online small high-interest loan provider indirectly owned by the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Soon after, Coughlin filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case before the Bankruptcy Court. [1] Despite the automatic stay of collection efforts imposed by section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code, Lendgreen continued to request repayment of the loan provided. [2] [3] In response to this, Coughlin would move to file a motion before the Bankruptcy Court requesting an automatic stay while the Tribe opted to file a 'motion to dismiss' Coughlin's respective motion. [4] The Bankruptcy Court would go on to deny Coughlin's stay motion arguing that, given the Tribes were sovereign nations, they were subsequently immune from such a suit. [5] Coughlin would go on to appeal the decision to the First Circuit Court of Appeals who subsequently reversed the Bankruptcy Court's ruling siding in favor of Coughlin. [6] [7] Following this, the Tribe appealed the case to the Supreme Court who agreed to rehear the case. [8]
On June 15, 2023, Justice Jackson issued the majority opinion for the court. [9] In her opinion, Jackson noted that abrogation of sovereign immunity by Congress is only applicable provided "unmistakably clear" language within the provided congressional statute. In doing so, Jackson commented that "sovereign immunity is abrogated as to a governmental unit" and that a tribe is considered to be covered under such a description as a "'governmental unit' exudes comprehensiveness from beginning to end". [10] [11] According to Jackson, the phrasing of 'other foreign or domestic government[s]' indicated a comprehensive inclusion of the varied "list of governments" and their respective subdivided components that Congress had established. [12] A 'governmental unit', as understood by Jackson, could therefore not be read to exclude "certain governments … from those provisions’ reach, notwithstanding the fact that they engage in tax and regulatory activities". [13] Given Tribes are considered to be governments, they subsequently fall underneath the Code's jurisdiction as the statute "unequivocally abrogates the sovereign immunity of all governments, categorically". In emphasizing that the terminology of 'other foreign or domestic government[s]' was truly categorical, Jackson noted that "[f]ew phrases in the English language express all-inclusiveness more than the pairing of two extremes" and that a deliberate inclusion of such in the statute indicated an "unmistakabl[e] intent to cover all governments". [14]
Justice Thomas issued a concurring opinion agreeing in judgment with the majority. In his opinion, Thomas expressed hesitancy towards the belief "that tribes possess sovereign immunity at all", arguing that if immunity did exist for the tribes, it would not extend outside of their territory nor on a level equal to those of the states. [15] Thomas further contended that the development of tribal sovereign immunity was a judicial construct that should be abandoned as it was brought about "almost by accident" and with "little analysis". [16] According to Thomas, sovereign immunity, to the extent a tribe had any, was "unjustified" as it developed through common law interpretation rather than Constitutional interpretation, and would further inflame the relationships between the Tribes and states. [17]
Justice Gorsuch issued a dissenting opinion arguing that, given there was no explicit mention of the Tribes being covered by the code, the tribes were not under obligation to follow the code's regulations. [18] [19] In his dissent, Gorsuch contended that the code's phrasing of 'other foreign or domestic government[s]' was not applicable to the Tribes as, "properly understood, Tribes are neither of those things", with such an assumption only able to come through a generalized reading of the statute as "every government, everywhere". [20] Given this perceived lack of clear language, Gorsuch argued that "If Congress wishes to abrogate tribal immunity, its 'decision must be clear.' And the Legislature must 'unequivocally express' its decision in the text of a statute". [21]
The Wisconsin Walleye War became the name for late 20th-century events in Wisconsin in protest of Ojibwe (Chippewa) hunting and fishing rights. In a 1975 case, the tribes challenged state efforts to regulate their hunting and fishing off the reservations, based on their rights in the treaties of St. Peters (1837) and La Pointe (1842). On August 21, 1987, U.S. District Court judge Barbara Crabb ruled that six Ojibwe tribal governments had the right under these treaties for hunting and fishing throughout their former territory.
The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a federally recognized Ojibwa Native American tribe. It had 3,415 enrolled members as of 2010. The Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation lies mostly in the Town of Lac du Flambeau in south-western Vilas County, and in the Town of Sherman in south-eastern Iron County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It has a land area of 107.1 square miles (277.4 km2) and a 2020 census resident population of 3,518. Its major settlement is the unincorporated Lac du Flambeau, which had a population of 1,845.
Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996), was a United States Supreme Court case which held that Article One of the U.S. Constitution did not give the United States Congress the power to abrogate the sovereign immunity of the states that is further protected under the Eleventh Amendment. Such abrogation is permitted where it is necessary to enforce the rights of citizens guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment as per Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer. The case also held that the doctrine of Ex parte Young, which allows state officials to be sued in their official capacity for prospective injunctive relief, was inapplicable under these circumstances, because any remedy was limited to the one that Congress had provided.
The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe is the centralized governmental authority for six Ojibwe bands in Minnesota. The tribe was created on June 18, 1934; the organization and its governmental powers are divided between the tribe, and the individual bands, which directly operate their reservations. The bands that make up the tribe are:
The Fond du Lac Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in northern Minnesota near Cloquet in Carlton and Saint Louis counties. Off-reservation holdings are located across the state in Douglas County, in the northwest corner of Wisconsin. The total land area of these tribal lands is 154.49 square miles (400.1 km2). It is the land-base for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Before the establishment of this reservation, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa were located at the head of Lake Superior, closer to the mouth of the Saint Louis River, where Duluth has developed.
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) band located near Cloquet, Minnesota. Their land base is the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, located mainly in Carlton and Saint Louis Counties, Minnesota, 20 miles west of Duluth.
The Treaty of La Pointe may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in La Pointe, Wisconsin between the United States and the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Native American peoples. In addition, the Isle Royale Agreement, an adhesion to the first Treaty of La Pointe, was made at La Pointe.
Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians are a historical band of Chippewa (Ojibwe) who settled at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in present-day Minnesota. Their name "Pillagers" is a translation of Makandwewininiwag, which literally means "Pillaging Men". The French called them Pilleurs, also a translation of their name. The French and Americans adopted their autonym for their military activities as the advance guard of the Ojibwe in the invasion of the Dakota country.
The Lake Superior Chippewa are a large number of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) bands living around Lake Superior; this territory is considered part of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the United States. They migrated into the area by the seventeenth century, encroaching on the Eastern Dakota people who had historically occupied the area. The Ojibwe defeated the Eastern Dakota, who migrated west into the Great Plains after the final battle in 1745. While they share a common culture including the Anishinaabe language, this highly decentralized group of Ojibwe includes at least twelve independent bands in the region.
Anishinaabe tribal political organizations are political consortiums of Anishinaabe nations that advocate for the political interests of their constituencies. Anishinaabe people of Canada are considered as First Nations, and of the United States as Native Americans.
Treaty of St. Peters may be one of two treaties conducted between the United States and Native American peoples, conducted at the confluence of the Minnesota River with the Mississippi River, in what today is Mendota, Minnesota.
The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) is an intertribal, co-management agency committed to the implementation of off-reservation treaty rights on behalf of its eleven-member Ojibwa tribes. Formed in 1984 and exercising authority specifically delegated by its member tribes, GLIFWC's mission is to help ensure significant off-reservation harvests while protecting the resources for generations to come.
Several Native American tribes within the United States register motor vehicles and issue license plates to those vehicles.
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, also known as the Harvard Project, was founded in 1987 at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. It administers tribal awards programs as well as provides support for students and conducting research. The Harvard Project aims to understand and foster the conditions under which sustained, self-determined social and economic development is achieved among American Indian nations through applied research and service.
Thomas Leo "Ted" St. Germaine was an American football player, coach, and lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Villanova College—now known as Villanova University—for one season, in 1913, compiling a record of 4–2–1. Germaine played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1922 season. That season, he joined the NFL's Oorang Indians, a team based in LaRue, Ohio, which was composed solely of Native Americans, and coached by Jim Thorpe. St. Germaine was qualified to play for the Indians since he was a Chippewa.
In United States law, the federal government as well as state and tribal governments generally enjoy sovereign immunity, also known as governmental immunity, from lawsuits. Local governments in most jurisdictions enjoy immunity from some forms of suit, particularly in tort. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act provides foreign governments, including state-owned companies, with a related form of immunity—state immunity—that shields them from lawsuits except in relation to certain actions relating to commercial activity in the United States. The principle of sovereign immunity in US law was inherited from the English common law legal maxim rex non potest peccare, meaning "the king can do no wrong." In some situations, sovereign immunity may be waived by law.
The United States was the first jurisdiction to acknowledge the common law doctrine of aboriginal title. Native American tribes and nations establish aboriginal title by actual, continuous, and exclusive use and occupancy for a "long time." Individuals may also establish aboriginal title, if their ancestors held title as individuals. Unlike other jurisdictions, the content of aboriginal title is not limited to historical or traditional land uses. Aboriginal title may not be alienated, except to the federal government or with the approval of Congress. Aboriginal title is distinct from the lands Native Americans own in fee simple and occupy under federal trust.
The Treaty of Prairie du Chien may refer to any of several treaties made and signed in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin between the United States, representatives from the Sioux, Sac and Fox, Menominee, Iowa, Ho-Chunk and the Anishinaabeg Native American peoples.