Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Oklahoma

Decided February 26, 1991. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 89-1322 · 498 U.S. 505 (1991) · Cited 697 times

Holding

Under the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity, a State that has not asserted jurisdiction over Indian lands under Public Law 280 may not tax sales of goods to tribesmen occurring on land held in trust for a federally recognized Indian tribe, but is free to collect taxes on such sales to nonmembers of the tribe.

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 9–0.

“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)
• Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation · 447 U.S. 134 (1980)
• United States v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. · 309 U.S. 506 (1940)
• United States v. John · 437 U.S. 634 (1978)
• Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez · 436 U.S. 49 (1978)
• Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones · 411 U.S. 145 (1973)
• California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians · 480 U.S. 202 (1987)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Bryan v. Itasca County · 426 U.S. 373 (1976)
• Nevada v. Hall · 440 U.S. 410 (1979)
• Rice v. Rehner · 463 U.S. 713 (1983)
• United States v. McGowan · 302 U.S. 535 (1938)
• Turner v. United States · 248 U.S. 354 (1919)
• Vance v. Terrazas · 444 U.S. 252 (1980)

Cited by

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

• Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community · 572 U.S. 782 (2014)
• Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc. · 523 U.S. 751 (1998)
• Department of Taxation and Finance of NY v. Milhelm Attea & Bros. · 512 U.S. 61 (1994)
• Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Sac & Fox Nation · 508 U.S. 114 (1993)
• Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak · 501 U.S. 775 (1991)
• Lapides v. Board of Regents of Univ. System of Ga. · 535 U.S. 613 (2002)
• C & L Enterprises Inc. v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Oklahoma · 532 U.S. 411 (2001)
• Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Chickasaw Nation · 515 U.S. 450 (1995)
• Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta · 597 U.S. 629 (2022)
• Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas · 596 U.S. 685 (2022)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1991). 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).