Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc.

Decided May 26, 1998. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 96-1037 · 523 U.S. 751 (1998) · Cited 393 times

Holding

Indian tribes enjoy sovereign immunity from civil suits on contracts, whether those contracts involve governmental or commercial activities and whether they were made on or off a reservation.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

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.

• Turner v. United States · 248 U.S. 354 (1919)
• Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi Tribe of Okla. · 498 U.S. 505 (1991)
• Puyallup Tribe, Inc. v. Department of Game of Washington · 433 U.S. 165 (1977)
• Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Engineering, P. C. · 476 U.S. 877 (1986)
• Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez · 436 U.S. 49 (1978)
• United States v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. · 309 U.S. 506 (1940)
• Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak · 501 U.S. 775 (1991)
• Verlinden B. v. v. Central Bank of Nigeria · 461 U.S. 480 (1983)
• Idaho v. Coeur D'Alene Tribe of Idaho · 521 U.S. 261 (1997)
• Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones · 411 U.S. 145 (1973)
• Nevada v. Hall · 440 U.S. 410 (1979)
• Organized Village of Kake v. Egan · 369 U.S. 60 (1962)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. · 505 U.S. 504 (1992)
• White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker · 448 U.S. 136 (1980)
• Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation · 447 U.S. 134 (1980)
• United States v. Shaw · 309 U.S. 495 (1940)
• The Kansas Indians · 72 U.S. 737 (1867)
• Kawananakoa v. Polyblank · 205 U.S. 349 (1907)

Cited by

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

• Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community · 572 U.S. 782 (2014)
• Lewis v. Clarke · 581 U.S. 155 (2017)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1998). 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).