William Strate, Associate Tribal Judge, Tribal Court of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, et al. v. A-1 Contractors and Lyle Stockert

Decided April 28, 1997. Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-1872 · 520 U.S. 438 (1997) · Cited 380 times

Holding

When an accident occurs on a public highway maintained by the State pursuant to a federally granted right-of-way over Indian reservation land, a civil action against allegedly negligent nonmembers falls within state or federal regulatory and adjudicatory governance; absent a statute or treaty authorizing the tribe to govern the conduct of nonmembers driving on the State’s highway, tribal courts may not exercise jurisdiction in such cases.

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.

• Iowa Mutual Insurance v. LaPlante · 480 U.S. 9 (1987)
• Montana v. United States · 450 U.S. 544 (1981)
• National Farmers Union Insurance v. Crow Tribe of Indians · 471 U.S. 845 (1985)
• Fisher v. District Court of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Montana · 424 U.S. 382 (1976)
• BRENDALE v. CONFEDERATED TRIBES AND BANDS OF THE YAKIMA INDIAN NATION Et Al. · 492 U.S. 408 (1989)
• South Dakota v. Bourland · 508 U.S. 679 (1993)
• Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation · 447 U.S. 134 (1980)
• Williams v. Lee · 358 U.S. 217 (1959)
• Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe · 435 U.S. 191 (1978)
• Duro v. Reina · 495 U.S. 676 (1990)
• Thomas v. Gay · 169 U.S. 264 (1898)

Cited by

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

• Nevada v. Hicks · 533 U.S. 353 (2001)
• Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley · 532 U.S. 645 (2001)
• Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co. · 554 U.S. 316 (2008)
• United States v. Cooley · 593 U.S. 345 (2021)
• City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of NY · 544 U.S. 197 (2005)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1997). 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).