Wilson

I. Overview

The plaintiffs in this ease are four bands of Indians-the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, the Sycuan Band of Mission Indians, the Barona Band of Mission Indians, and the Viejas Band of Mission Indians (collectively, the “Bands”)-who operate simulcast wagering facilities on their tribal lands. In this suit, the Bands seek to force the defendants-Governor Pete Wilson, the California Horse Racing Board, and the State of California (collectively, the “State”)-to turn over to the *1053 Bands license fees which the State collects from California’s horse racing associations based on the revenues generated at the Bands’ facilities.

The action arises out of Tribal-State Compacts into which the parties entered pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (“IGRA”), 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2721 . In those Compacts, the parties agreed to submit to the district court the question of whether the license fees are permissible under IGRA. Because the State agreed to turn over the fees to the Bands if the fees are impermissible under IGRA, and because we held in a prior decision that the fees are impermissible, we affirm the district court’s decision ordering the State to turn over…

dissenting:

I respectfully dissent. I am unable to join the majority opinion because I am not convinced that we have jurisdiction of the Bands’ efforts to enforce the terms of their Tribal-State compacts.

“Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. They possess only that power authorized by Constitution and statute, which is not to be expanded by judicial decree.” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of America, 511 U.S. 375, 377 , 114 S.Ct. 1673, 1675 , 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994) (citations omitted). Neither the Constitution nor any federal statute confers the federal courts with jurisdiction of the Bands’ efforts to enforce Paragraph 19 of their compacts with the State of California. As a result, I would vacate the district court’s judgment and remand with instructions to enter judgment in favor of the Bands on the issue presented by their original complaint.

The majority finds federal jurisdiction of the Bands’ efforts to enforce the terms of the compacts pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1362, which each confer federal jurisdiction of claims “arising under” the laws of the United States. Following the reasoning adopted by the district court, the majority concludes that…