Washington et al. v. Confederated Bands and Tribes of the Yakima Indian Nation

Decided January 16, 1979. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-388 · 439 U.S. 463 (1979) · Cited 453 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 7–2.

“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.

• Bryan v. Itasca County · 426 U.S. 373 (1976)
• McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission · 411 U.S. 164 (1973)
• Williams v. Lee · 358 U.S. 217 (1959)
• Kennerly v. District Court of the Ninth Judicial District of Montana · 400 U.S. 423 (1971)
• Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia · 427 U.S. 307 (1976)
• Menominee Tribe of Indians v. United States · 391 U.S. 404 (1968)
• United States v. Wheeler · 435 U.S. 313 (1978)
• Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation · 425 U.S. 463 (1976)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Mandel v. Bradley · 432 U.S. 173 (1977)
• Carpenter v. Shaw · 280 U.S. 363 (1930)
• Mattz v. Arnett · 412 U.S. 481 (1973)
• United States v. McBratney · 104 U.S. 621 (1882)
• Younger v. Harris · 401 U.S. 37 (1971)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Morton v. Mancari · 417 U.S. 535 (1974)
• Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co. · 428 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Hicks v. Miranda · 422 U.S. 332 (1975)
• United States v. Mazurie · 419 U.S. 544 (1975)
• United States & Interstate Commerce Commission v. American Railway Express Co. · 265 U.S. 425 (1924)
• Board of Comm'rs of Jackson Cty. v. United States · 308 U.S. 343 (1939)
• Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe · 435 U.S. 191 (1978)
• Choate v. Trapp · 224 U.S. 665 (1912)
• Richardson v. Ramirez · 418 U.S. 24 (1974)
• Jones v. Meehan · 175 U.S. 1 (1899)
• Squire v. Capoeman · 351 U.S. 1 (1956)
• Seymour v. Superintendent of Washington State Penitentiary · 368 U.S. 351 (1962)
• United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad · 314 U.S. 339 (1942)
• The Kansas Indians · 72 U.S. 737 (1867)
• Draper v. United States · 164 U.S. 240 (1896)

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)
• Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation · 447 U.S. 134 (1980)
• CRST Van Expedited, Inc. v. Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n · 578 U.S. 419 (2016)
• Arizona v. San Carlos Apache Tribe of Ariz. · 463 U.S. 545 (1983)
• Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Engineering, P. C. · 476 U.S. 877 (1986)
• Rice v. Cayetano · 528 U.S. 495 (2000)
• Haaland v. Brackeen · 599 U.S. 255 (2023)
• Sullivan v. Louisiana · 508 U.S. 275 (1993)
• Jett v. Dallas Independent School District · 491 U.S. 701 (1989)
• Reno v. Flores · 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
• Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg · 492 U.S. 33 (1989)
• Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego · 453 U.S. 490 (1981)
• White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker · 448 U.S. 136 (1980)
• New York City Transit Authority v. Beazer · 440 U.S. 568 (1979)
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. · 564 U.S. 786 (2011)
• Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Assn. · 443 U.S. 658 (1979)
• 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett · 556 U.S. 247 (2009)
• New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe · 462 U.S. 324 (1983)
• Davis v. Bandemer · 478 U.S. 109 (1986)
• Amadeo v. Zant · 486 U.S. 214 (1988)
• Yeager v. United States · 557 U.S. 110 (2009)
• Lytle v. Household Manufacturing, Inc. · 494 U.S. 545 (1990)
• Negonsott v. Samuels · 507 U.S. 99 (1993)
• Hagen v. Utah · 510 U.S. 399 (1994)
• Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta · 597 U.S. 629 (2022)
• 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).