## Facts

- The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (UKB), a federally recognized tribe organized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, intervened and became the sole plaintiff.
- UKB purchased parcels of land in Oklahoma in fee simple; the land was not within a reservation, not an allotment, and not held in trust by the United States.
- The land was subject to a restriction on alienation requiring approval from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior before conveyance.
- UKB operated smokeshops on the fee land and sold tobacco products.
- The Oklahoma Tax Commission assessed and sought to enforce state tobacco taxes on sales at the smokeshops.
- UKB sought injunctive relief in federal court to prevent enforcement of the state tobacco tax scheme, asserting the land was “Indian country.”
- The district court granted summary judgment to Oklahoma, concluding the alienation restriction alone did not make the land “Indian country,” and UKB appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether land purchased in fee by a tribe and subject only to a restriction on alienation requiring Secretary of the Interior approval constitutes “Indian country” under federal law.
2. If the land is not “Indian country,” whether Oklahoma may apply and enforce its tobacco tax laws against smokeshops located on that land.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Oklahoma Tax Commission and state officials.
- The court held the fee land was not “Indian country” under 18 U.S.C. § 1151.
- A restriction on alienation requiring federal approval, without more, did not show the land was set apart for tribal use under federal superintendence.
- Because the land was not Indian country, Oklahoma could impose and enforce its tobacco taxes on the smokeshop sales.

## Legal Principles

- “Indian country” status under 18 U.S.C. § 1151 generally requires land to fall within a reservation, qualify as a dependent Indian community, or be an allotment with unextinguished Indian title; fee land outside those categories is not Indian country absent additional federal action.
- Federal “superintendence” requires more than a conveyance-approval requirement; it requires federal action indicating the land has been set apart for Indian use and is subject to ongoing federal oversight.
- The source of an alienation restriction (tribal charter or 25 U.S.C. § 177) does not, by itself, convert tribally owned fee land into Indian country.
- A tribe cannot unilaterally remove fee land from state civil regulatory and taxing jurisdiction merely by purchasing it and asserting an alienation restriction.

## Conclusion

The court held that UKB’s tribally owned fee land, subject only to a Secretary-approval alienation restriction, was not “Indian country,” so Oklahoma retained authority to assess and enforce state tobacco taxes on smokeshop sales conducted there.


Buzzard v. Okla. Tax Comm’n, 992 F.2d 1073 (10th Cir. 1993)