Arizona et al. v. San Carlos Apache Tribe of Arizona et al.

Decided July 1, 1983. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 81-2147 · 463 U.S. 545 (1983) · Cited 223 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States · 424 U.S. 800 (1976)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Winters v. United States · 207 U.S. 564 (1908)
• United States v. McBratney · 104 U.S. 621 (1882)
• Arizona v. California · 373 U.S. 546 (1963)
• Washington v. Confederated Bands & Tribes of the Yakima Indian Nation · 439 U.S. 463 (1979)
• Draper v. United States · 164 U.S. 240 (1896)
• New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe · 462 U.S. 324 (1983)
• The Kansas Indians · 72 U.S. 737 (1867)
• Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, Inc. · 447 U.S. 102 (1980)
• Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc. · 458 U.S. 564 (1982)
• Williams v. Lee · 358 U.S. 217 (1959)
• Kerotest Manufacturing Co. v. C-O-Two Fire Equipment Co. · 342 U.S. 180 (1952)
• McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission · 411 U.S. 164 (1973)
• White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker · 448 U.S. 136 (1980)
• Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones · 411 U.S. 145 (1973)
• Bryan v. Itasca County · 426 U.S. 373 (1976)
• Rice v. Olson · 324 U.S. 786 (1945)
• Organized Village of Kake v. Egan · 369 U.S. 60 (1962)
• Seminole Nation v. United States · 316 U.S. 286 (1942)
• Cappaert v. United States · 426 U.S. 128 (1976)
• Bread Political Action Committee v. Federal Election Commission · 455 U.S. 577 (1982)
• Morrison-Knudsen Construction Co. v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs · 461 U.S. 624 (1983)
• Ramah Navajo School Bd., Inc. v. Bureau of Revenue of NM · 458 U.S. 832 (1982)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Engineering, P. C. · 467 U.S. 138 (1984)
• Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Mayacamas Corp. · 485 U.S. 271 (1988)
• Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak · 501 U.S. 775 (1991)
• Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Pueblo of Santa Ana · 472 U.S. 237 (1985)
• Haaland v. Brackeen · 599 U.S. 255 (2023)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).