Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/415

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Cite as: 502 U. S. 251 (1992)

257

Opinion of the Court

valorem tax would be impermissible only if it would have a “ ‘demonstrably serious’ ” impact on the “ ‘political integrity, economic security, or the health and welfare of the tribe,’ ” and remanded to the District Court for that determination to be made. 903 F. 2d 1207, 1218 (CA9 1990) (emphasis deleted) (quoting Brendale, supra, at 431). We granted certiorari. 500 U. S. 903 (1991). II The Court’s earliest cases addressing attempts by States to exercise dominion over the reservation lands of Indians proceeded from Chief Justice Marshall’s premise that the “several Indian nations [constitute] distinct political communities, having territorial boundaries, within which their authority is exclusive. . . .” Worcester v. Georgia, 6 Pet. 515, 556–557 (1832). Because Congress, pursuant to its constitutional authority both “[t]o regulate Commerce. . . with the Indian Tribes” and to make treaties, U. S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3; Art II, § 2, cl. 2, had determined by law and treaty that “all intercourse with them [would] be carried on exclusively by the [Federal Government],” Worcester v. Georgia, supra, at 557, the Court concluded that within reservations state jurisdiction would generally not lie. The assertion of taxing authority was not excepted from this principle. E. g., The Kansas Indians, 5 Wall. 737, 755–757 (1867); The New York Indians, 5 Wall. 761, 771–772 (1867). The “platonic notions of Indian sovereignty” that guided Chief Justice Marshall have, over time, lost their independent sway. See McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm’n, 411 U. S. 164, 172, and n. 8 (1973); Organized Village of Kake v. Egan, 369 U. S. 60, 71–73 (1962). Congress abolished treatymaking with the Indian nations in 1871, Rev. Stat. § 2079, as amended, 25 U. S. C. § 71, and has itself subjected the tribes to substantial bodies of state and federal law. This Court’s more recent cases have recognized the rights of States, absent a congressional prohibition, to exercise criminal (and, implicitly, civil) jurisdiction over non-Indians lo-