''Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government'', 522 U.S. 520 (1998), was a

United States Supreme Court 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 ...

case. The local tribal council in

Venetie, Alaska Venetie ( ;Corey Goldberg," ''New York Times'', 9 May 1997. ''Vįįhtąįį'' in Gwich’in), is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska. At the 2010 census, the population was 166, down from 202 in 2000. It include ...

, wanted to collect

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

from non-tribal members doing business on tribal lands. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on appeal from the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

, which had ruled in the tribe's favor, saying they occupied Indian Country. The Court decided unanimously that the land was not the tribe's land subject to the tribal tax, even though it was owned by the tribe, because it was not part of a

Native American reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a federally recognized Tribe (Native American), Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not ...

. Because all but one reservation in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

(the Annette Island reservation of the

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only r ...

) had been eliminated by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, the decision had the practical effect of prohibiting almost all Indian tribes in Alaska from collecting taxes for activities conducted on tribal land. Taxing authority is reserved as a right of the states and federal government. The State of Alaska, the

petitioner {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 A petitioner is a person who pleads with governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through use of a petition. In the courts The petitioner may seek a legal remedy if the state or ano ...

, was represented by

John G. Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

, who later became the Chief Justice of the United States. The respondent was represented by Heather Kendall-Miller, an attorney of

Athabascan Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...

descent.

External links

* 1996 in Alaska 1997 in Alaska 1998 in Alaska 1998 in United States case law Alaska Natives and United States law United States Native American case law United States Native American tax case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska {{SCOTUS-case-stub