Washington et al. v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation et al.

Decided June 10, 1980. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-630 · 447 U.S. 134 (1980) · Cited 702 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.

• McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission · 411 U.S. 164 (1973)
• Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation · 425 U.S. 463 (1976)
• Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones · 411 U.S. 145 (1973)
• Thomas v. Gay · 169 U.S. 264 (1898)
• Bryan v. Itasca County · 426 U.S. 373 (1976)
• Williams v. Lee · 358 U.S. 217 (1959)
• United States v. Wheeler · 435 U.S. 313 (1978)
• Goosby v. Osser · 409 U.S. 512 (1973)
• Washington v. Confederated Bands & Tribes of the Yakima Indian Nation · 439 U.S. 463 (1979)
• Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe · 435 U.S. 191 (1978)
• Fisher v. District Court of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Montana · 424 U.S. 382 (1976)
• United States v. County of Fresno · 429 U.S. 452 (1977)
• National Geographic Society v. California Board of Equalization · 430 U.S. 551 (1977)
• United States v. Mazurie · 419 U.S. 544 (1975)
• Henneford v. Silas Mason Co. · 300 U.S. 577 (1937)
• Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady · 430 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Swift & Co. v. Wickham · 382 U.S. 111 (1965)
• Alabama v. King & Boozer · 314 U.S. 1 (1941)
• Warren Trading Post Co. v. Arizona Tax Commission · 380 U.S. 685 (1965)
• Tully v. Griffin, Inc. · 429 U.S. 68 (1976)
• Gillespie v. Oklahoma · 257 U.S. 501 (1922)
• Michelin Tire Corp. v. Wages · 423 U.S. 276 (1976)
• Morton v. Mancari · 417 U.S. 535 (1974)
• Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez · 436 U.S. 49 (1978)
• Perkins v. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co. · 342 U.S. 437 (1952)
• Morton v. Ruiz · 415 U.S. 199 (1974)
• Turner v. Fouche · 396 U.S. 346 (1970)
• Wisconsin v. J. C. Penney Co. · 311 U.S. 435 (1941)
• Phillips v. United States · 312 U.S. 246 (1941)
• Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. · 433 U.S. 562 (1977)

Cited by

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

• Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe · 455 U.S. 130 (1982)
• Nevada v. Hicks · 533 U.S. 353 (2001)
• New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe · 462 U.S. 324 (1983)
• Rice v. Rehner · 463 U.S. 713 (1983)
• Duro v. Reina · 495 U.S. 676 (1990)
• Department of Taxation and Finance of NY v. Milhelm Attea & Bros. · 512 U.S. 61 (1994)
• BRENDALE v. CONFEDERATED TRIBES AND BANDS OF THE YAKIMA INDIAN NATION Et Al. · 492 U.S. 408 (1989)
• Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Sac & Fox Nation · 508 U.S. 114 (1993)
• Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico · 490 U.S. 163 (1989)
• California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians · 480 U.S. 202 (1987)
• Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi Tribe of Okla. · 498 U.S. 505 (1991)
• Strate v. A-1 Contractors · 520 U.S. 438 (1997)
• Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community · 572 U.S. 782 (2014)
• Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Chickasaw Nation · 515 U.S. 450 (1995)
• Ramah Navajo School Bd., Inc. v. Bureau of Revenue of NM · 458 U.S. 832 (1982)
• California State Board of Equalization v. Chemehuevi Indian Tribe · 474 U.S. 9 (1985)
• Central MacHinery Co. v. Arizona State Tax Commission · 448 U.S. 160 (1980)
• National Farmers Union Insurance v. Crow Tribe of Indians · 471 U.S. 845 (1985)
• Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co. · 554 U.S. 316 (2008)
• South Dakota v. Bourland · 508 U.S. 679 (1993)
• Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta · 597 U.S. 629 (2022)
• Montana v. United States · 450 U.S. 544 (1981)
• White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker · 448 U.S. 136 (1980)
• Iowa Mutual Insurance v. LaPlante · 480 U.S. 9 (1987)
• Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc. · 523 U.S. 751 (1998)
• County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation · 502 U.S. 251 (1992)
• Shapiro v. McManus · 577 U.S. 39 (2015)
• Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley · 532 U.S. 645 (2001)

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).