## Facts

- The Jicarilla Apache Nation is a federally recognized tribe whose trust funds, derived from reservation resources, are held and managed by the United States.
- The Tribe sued the United States in the Court of Federal Claims under the Tucker Act and Indian Tucker Act, seeking money damages for alleged mismanagement of tribal trust funds under 25 U.S.C. §§ 161–162a and related statutes.
- During discovery, the Tribe sought Interior Department communications concerning trust fund administration.
- The United States withheld certain documents as protected by the attorney-client privilege.
- The Court of Federal Claims compelled production of some communications, applying a “fiduciary exception” that, in private-trust law, can require a trustee to disclose trust-administration legal advice to beneficiaries.
- The Federal Circuit declined to grant mandamus relief and effectively allowed the fiduciary exception to apply to the federal–tribal trust context.
- The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

## Issues

1. Whether the fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege applies to the general trust relationship between the United States and Indian tribes.
2. Whether a tribe may obtain discovery of otherwise privileged Government–attorney communications concerning administration of tribal trust funds based on trustee-like duties.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed and remanded.
- The Court held that the fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege does not apply to the general trust relationship between the United States and Indian tribes.
- The Court reasoned that federal trust obligations to tribes are defined by statute, not common-law trust doctrine.
- The Court concluded that the rationales for the fiduciary exception do not fit because the United States has distinct sovereign interests in administering federal law and is not subject to a general common-law duty to disclose trust-administration legal advice.
- Justice Ginsburg, joined by Justice Breyer, concurred in the judgment, emphasizing the Government’s independent sovereign interests and stating it was unnecessary to decide what nonprivileged information the Government must disclose.
- Justice Sotomayor dissented; Justice Kagan did not participate.

## Legal Principles

- The United States assumes trust responsibilities to Indian tribes only to the extent Congress has accepted and defined those responsibilities by statute.
- Common-law trust rules, including disclosure norms associated with private trustees, do not automatically apply to the federal–tribal trust relationship.
- The fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege, developed for private trusts, does not extend to Government legal communications about tribal trust administration absent a statutory basis for such disclosure.
- When obtaining legal advice regarding execution of statutes governing tribal affairs, the United States acts in a sovereign capacity with its own institutional interests and may invoke ordinary attorney-client privilege.

## Conclusion

The Court ruled that tribes cannot use the fiduciary exception to compel disclosure of privileged federal attorney-client communications about tribal trust fund administration, because federal trust duties are statutory and the Government retains privilege when seeking legal advice in its sovereign role.


United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation, 564 U.S. 162 (2011)