Bishop Paiute Tribe v. County of Inyo

On March 23, 2000, the District Attorney for the County of Inyo (“District Attorney”) and the Sheriff for the County of Inyo (“Sheriff’) obtained and executed a warrant to search Bishop Paiute Gaming Corporation (“Corporation”) employee records held in the possession and control of the Bishop Paiute Tribe (“Tribe”) in Bishop, California, as part of a welfare fraud investigation. The Tribe and the Corporation brought suit against the County of Inyo (“County”), the District Attorney, and the Sheriff (collectively “Defendants”) under federal and state law seeking injunc-tive and declaratory relief, and damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 .

The District Court granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss on each of the Plaintiffs’ claims. On appeal, the Tribe raises several arguments concerning the authority of the County to obtain and execute a search warrant against the Tribe. First, the Tribe argues that Public Law 280 — which grants California criminal jurisdiction over offenses committed by or against Indians — does not waive the Tribe’s sovereign immunity, and thus the County exceeded its jurisdiction when it obtained and exe *554 cuted a search warrant against the Tribe. The Tribe also…