FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1996                          (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

     STATEMENT BY LOIS J. SCHIFFER ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
         ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION ON
         U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR V. SOUTH DAKOTA 

     The Justice Department is pleased that the Supreme Court has
set aside the decision of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals,
which invalidated the federal government's authority to take land
into trust on behalf of Tribes and individual Indians.  The
Eighth Circuit's ruling struck down Section 5 of the Indian
Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA) as an unconstitutional
delegation of congressional authority, thereby calling into
question more than 400 pending applications to take land into
trust, and perhaps thousands of completed land acquisitions
during the past 60 years covering an estimated nine million
acres. 

     The IRA is the cornerstone of modern federal law respecting
Indians, and it has played a central role in promoting tribal
self-government and economic self-sufficiency.  For more than 60
years, Section 5 of that law has allowed the Secretary to restore
or replace lands and related economic opportunities that Indians
lost due to the failed "allotment" policies adopted at the close
of the nineteenth century.

     This case arose from a request by the Lower Brule Tribe that
the Interior Department place into trust status a 91-acre parcel
of land in central South Dakota.  The State of South Dakota and
the City of Oacoma opposed the request and sued to stop the
government from taking the land into trust. 

     In response to the Eighth Circuit's decision, the Department
of the Interior issued new regulations implementing Section 5. In
June 1996, the Solicitor General, on behalf of the Interior
Department, requested the Supreme Court set aside the Eighth
Circuit ruling and instruct the lower court to remand the
proceeding to the Secretary for a new decision under these
regulations. 

     The Supreme Court's two-sentence order orders a remand as
requested.  If the Secretary issues a decision proposing to take
the land into trust, South Dakota and Oacoma may seek judicial
review of that decision if they bring a suit before the land is
actually taken in trust, and in such a suit they may seek review
of any remaining constitutional issues.

     We are confident that the IRA will continue to play a vital
role in promoting tribal self-government and economic self-sufficiency.

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