(This opinion essay was first published in ScotusBlog on June 27, 2021.)

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Alaska Native corporations constitute “Indian tribes” under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, making them eligible for $500 million in federal coronavirus relief. Though the court focused almost exclusively on the statutory text, the decision will likely have broader implications for Alaska Natives.

The case, Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, centered on the 2020 CARES Act, which set aside $8 billion in COVID-19 relief for “Indian tribes.” The act incorporated the definition of “Indian tribe” from the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which defined tribe as:

any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.

In implementing the CARES Act, the Treasury Department determined that this definition encompassed Alaska Native corporations, which are special Native-owned companies established in 1971 by ANCSA. A number of federally recognized tribes objected, arguing that the corporations are ineligible for funding. A unanimous D.C. Circuit panel sided with those tribes.

(Continue reading the opinion essay on ScotusBlog’s page here.)