1998: Supreme Court overturns Neetsaii’ Gwich’in tax levy

In what American Indian leaders call a “breach of honor," the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Venetie Tribe of Neetsaii' Gwich'in Indians, an Athabascan tribe in remote Alaska, cannot levy a tax to support its rudimentary airstrip. The court finds for the state of Alaska, ruling that this village, like the more than 200 other Alaska Native villages that participated in the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, is no longer part of “Indian Country.” Indian Country is the term that Congress uses for American Indian-controlled lands.

“We may not have been educated in the white man’s ways, but we were promised we would always be able to keep and govern our lands where our ancestors are buried. We were told we could opt out of the Settlement Act. Now we are told it was all a big lie to take our rights away!” —Gideon James, Venetie Tribal Government Administrator

Theme

Federal-Tribal Relations

Region

Subarctic