## Facts

- Ysleta del Sur Pueblo is a federally recognized Indian tribe with reservation lands near El Paso, Texas.
- Congress enacted the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act in 1987, restoring the Pueblo’s federal trust status while addressing gaming on tribal lands.
- Restoration Act § 107(a) provides that all gaming activities prohibited by Texas law are prohibited on the Pueblo’s reservation and tribal lands and are subject to the same civil and criminal penalties as under Texas law.
- Restoration Act § 107(c) authorizes Texas to bring an action in federal court to enjoin violations of § 107.
- After the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) was enacted in 1988, the Pueblo sought to conduct gaming under IGRA, but Texas maintained that the Restoration Act controlled.
- In 1994, the Fifth Circuit held in prior litigation that the Restoration Act, not IGRA, governs the legality of the Pueblo’s gaming, and that Texas gaming laws and regulations operate as surrogate federal law on the Pueblo’s lands.
- In 2016, the Pueblo began offering bingo and “electronic bingo” at a facility; an inspection found live-called bingo and thousands of slot-type machines available around the clock.
- Texas sued under Restoration Act § 107(c) and obtained a permanent injunction in federal district court barring the Pueblo’s gaming operations.
- The Pueblo appealed, arguing that IGRA governed and permitted its bingo as class II gaming.

## Issues

1. Whether the Restoration Act or IGRA governs the legality of the Pueblo’s gaming activities on its reservation.
2. Whether, under the governing statute, the Pueblo’s bingo and electronic gaming operations violated applicable Texas gaming law such that permanent injunctive relief was proper.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed the permanent injunction.
- The court held it was bound by circuit precedent interpreting the Restoration Act to govern the Pueblo’s gaming, rather than IGRA.
- The court held that, under the Restoration Act, Texas gaming laws and regulations apply on the Pueblo’s lands as surrogate federal law.
- The court concluded the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting permanent injunctive relief based on the Pueblo’s gaming activities and the statutory enforcement mechanism in § 107(c).

## Legal Principles

- A circuit panel must follow controlling circuit precedent unless overruled by the en banc court or superseded by intervening binding authority.
- When two federal statutes arguably address the same subject, specific statutory provisions may control over a more general statutory framework.
- Under Restoration Act § 107, gaming prohibited by Texas law is prohibited on the Pueblo’s reservation and tribal lands, and Texas may seek a federal injunction to enforce that prohibition.
- Permanent injunctive relief is reviewed for abuse of discretion, and may be affirmed where the governing statute authorizes enforcement and the record supports ongoing or renewed violations.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit held that the Restoration Act, as interpreted by binding circuit precedent, displaced IGRA for the Pueblo’s gaming and incorporated Texas gaming laws and regulations as surrogate federal law on tribal lands, supporting a permanent injunction against the Pueblo’s bingo and electronic gaming operations.


State v. Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, 955 F.3d 408 (5th Cir. 2020)