Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government

The Neetsaii Gwich'in Tribe (respondent) held land that had once been an Indian reservation, but Congress's Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) revoked the reservation status and transferred the land in unrestricted fee simple to private, Native-managed corporations. When those corporations later taxed a contractor and the State of Alaska (petitioner) for business conducted on the land, Alaska sued to block the tax, arguing the land was no longer Indian country; the district court agreed, but the Ninth Circuit reversed.