''Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Indians'', 546 U.S. 95 (2005), was a case in which the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

held that a state's non-discriminatory fuel tax imposed on off-reservation distributors does not pose an affront to a tribe's sovereignty.''Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Indians'', .

Background

The

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation ( pot, Mshkodéniwek, formerly the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Indians) is a federally recognized tribe of Neshnabé (Potawatomi people), headquartered near Mayetta, Kansas. History The ''Mshkodésik'' ("People of t ...

is a federally recognized Indian (Native American) tribe with a reservation in Jackson County,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

. The tribe operates a gas station on the reservation, buying the fuel from off-reservation distributors. Under Kansas law, the distributors pay state tax on receipt of the fuel and pass on the costs to their customers, including the tribe. As a federally recognized tribe, a state may not directly tax the tribe absent the authorization of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

.Spellmeier, Luke R. (2004), A Winning Hand or Time to Fold? State Taxation of Fuel Sales on Kansas Indian Reservations, 43 Washburn Law J. 141 Schraver, David M. and Tennant, David H. (2012), Indian Tribal Sovereignty - Current Issues, 75 Albany Law R. 133 A previous Supreme Court case had struck down a state fuel tax imposed on gas sold by the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation (Chickasaw language, Chickasaw: Chikashsha I̠yaakni) is a federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe, with its headquarters located in Ada, Oklahoma in th ...

in 1995.''Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Chickasaw Nation'', Kansas had, subsequent to the ''Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Chickasaw Nation'', decision, imposed the tax on the non-Indian distributors of fuel and not on the tribe as the retail seller. The Potawatomi tribe viewed this as an attack on their tribal sovereignty and filed suit in the

United States District Court for the District of Kansas The United States District Court for the District of Kansas (in case citations, D. Kan.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Kansas. The Court operates out of the Robert J. Dole United States Courthouse in Kansas Ci ...

. The District Court upheld the state tax, and the tribe appealed to the

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Distric ...

. The appellate court reversed the decision of the trial court, ruling that the state's tax infringed on the tribe's right of self-government. Kansas appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

to hear the case.Kieval, Shira (2009), Discerning Discrimination in State Treatment of American Indians Going Beyond Reservation Boundaries, 109 Columbia Law R. 94

Opinion of the Court

Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...

delivered the opinion of the court. Justice Thomas reasoned that the taxation took place off-reservation and was neither discriminatory nor an affront to tribal sovereignty. Accordingly, the court reversed the decision of the Tenth Circuit and ruled that the tax was valid.

References

External links

* 2005 in United States case law United States Supreme Court cases Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation United States Native American tax case law United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court Native American history of Kansas {{SCOTUS-case-stub