Edgar Blatchford, Commissioner, Department of Community and Regional Affairs of Alaska v. Native Village of Noatak and Circle Village

Decided June 24, 1991. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 89-1782 · 501 U.S. 775 (1991) · Cited 520 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.

• Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation · 425 U.S. 463 (1976)
• Parden v. Terminal Railway of Alabama State Docks Department · 377 U.S. 184 (1964)
• Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon · 473 U.S. 234 (1985)
• Dellmuth v. Muth · 491 U.S. 223 (1989)
• United States v. Texas · 143 U.S. 621 (1892)
• Principality of Monaco v. Mississippi · 292 U.S. 313 (1934)
• United States v. Minnesota · 270 U.S. 181 (1926)
• Welch v. Texas Department of Highways & Public Transportation · 483 U.S. 468 (1987)
• The Kansas Indians · 72 U.S. 737 (1867)
• Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · 465 U.S. 89 (1984)
• Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi Tribe of Okla. · 498 U.S. 505 (1991)
• Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
• Morton v. Mancari · 417 U.S. 535 (1974)
• Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer · 427 U.S. 445 (1976)
• McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission · 411 U.S. 164 (1973)
• United States v. Kagama · 118 U.S. 375 (1886)
• Fair Assessment in Real Estate Assn., Inc. v. McNary · 454 U.S. 100 (1981)
• Employees of Department of Public Health v. Department of Public Health · 411 U.S. 279 (1973)
• Bryan v. Itasca County · 426 U.S. 373 (1976)
• Pennsylvania v. Union Gas Co. · 491 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. v. Feeney · 495 U.S. 299 (1990)
• Choate v. Trapp · 224 U.S. 665 (1912)
• Heckman v. United States · 224 U.S. 413 (1912)
• Antoine v. Washington · 420 U.S. 194 (1975)
• Arizona v. San Carlos Apache Tribe of Ariz. · 463 U.S. 545 (1983)
• Missouri v. Fiske · 290 U.S. 18 (1933)
• Board of County Commissioners v. Seber · 318 U.S. 705 (1943)
• South Dakota v. North Carolina · 192 U.S. 286 (1904)
• Northern Cheyenne Tribe v. Hollowbreast · 425 U.S. 649 (1976)

Cited by

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

• PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey · 594 U.S. 482 (2021)
• Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety · 597 U.S. 580 (2022)
• Alden v. Maine · 527 U.S. 706 (1999)
• Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Hyatt · 587 U.S. 230 (2019)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc. · 523 U.S. 751 (1998)
• Allen v. Cooper · 589 U.S. 248 (2020)
• Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina State Ports Authority · 535 U.S. 743 (2002)
• Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin · 599 U.S. 382 (2023)
• Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community · 572 U.S. 782 (2014)
• Lewis v. Clarke · 581 U.S. 155 (2017)
• Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle · 579 U.S. 59 (2016)
• Idaho v. Coeur D'Alene Tribe of Idaho · 521 U.S. 261 (1997)
• Central Virginia Community College v. Katz · 546 U.S. 356 (2006)
• Raygor v. Regents of the University of Minnesota · 534 U.S. 533 (2002)
• Alexander v. Sandoval · 532 U.S. 275 (2001)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents · 528 U.S. 62 (2000)
• Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs · 538 U.S. 721 (2003)
• California v. Deep Sea Research, Inc. · 523 U.S. 491 (1998)
• Financial Oversight and Management Bd. for P. R. v. Centro De Periodismo Investigativo, Inc. · 598 U.S. 339 (2023)
• Arizona v. Navajo Nation · 599 U.S. 555 (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).