Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak

Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak, 501 U.S. 775 (1991), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Eleventh Amendment prevents tribes from filing lawsuits against the United States because they are not party to the Constitution; therefore, the United States must sue itself as a trustee for the tribe under United States v. Minnesota.^[1][2]

Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided June 24, 1991
Full case name	Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak
Citations	501 U.S. 775 (more)
Holding
The Eleventh Amendment prevents tribes from filing lawsuits against the United States because they are not party to the Constitution; therefore, the United States must sue itself as a trustee for the tribe under United States v. Minnesota.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter
Case opinions
Majority	Scalia
Concurrence	Blackmun, joined by Marshall, Stevens

Criticism

Blatchford was out of step with most prior Eleventh Amendment jurisprudence, which said sovereign immunity under the Amendment only applied to situations mentioned directly in its text.^[3]