Crow Tribe of Indians v. Montana

In 1975, Montana imposed severance and gross proceeds taxes on coal produced from Crow Tribe coal deposits. Mont.Code Ann. §§ 15-35-101 through 205; §§ 15-23-701 through 703. The Tribe, and the United States as its trustee, 1 instituted suit challenging Montana’s taxes on preemption and Tribal sovereignty grounds. We held the complaint stated a cause of action. Crow Tribe of Indians v. State of Montana, 650 F.2d 1104 (9th Cir.1981), as amended, 665 F.2d 1390 (9th Cir.1982) (“Crow I”). After trial, we held the Tribe had established both that the taxes impermissibly eroded the Tribe’s sovereign authority and that they interfered with the policy of promoting tribal self-government and economic development underlying the Indian Mineral Leasing Act of 1938, 25 U.S.C. § 396a-g, were not narrowly tailored to achieve Montana’s legitimate interests, and were therefore preempted by the federal statute. Crow Tribe of Indians v. State of Montana, 819 F.2d 895 (9th Cir.1987), aff 'd without opinion, 484 U.S. 997 , 108 S.Ct. 685 , 98 L.Ed.2d 638 (1988) (“Crow II”).

After Crow II, the district court awarded the Tribe over $23,000,000 in severance taxes that the Tribe’s coal lessee, Westmoreland…