Seminole Tribe v. Butterworth
| Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth | |
|---|---|
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit |
| Full case name | SEMINOLE TRIBE OF FLORIDA, an Organized Tribe of Indians, as recognized under and by the Laws of the United States, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert BUTTERWORTH, the duly elected Sheriff of Broward County, Florida, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Decided | October 5 1981 |
| Citation | 658 F.2d 310 |
| Case history | |
| Prior history | Aff'g 491 F. Supp.1015 (S.D. Fla. 1980). |
| Subsequent history | Cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1020 (1982). |
| Holding | |
| The State of Florida does not have authority to enforce the Florida Bingo Statute on the Seminole Tribe of Florida's reservation, even though Florida is a Public Law 280 state, because the Bingo Statute is regulatory rather than prohibitory in nature. | |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | Lewis R. Morgan, Paul Hitch Roney, and Phyllis A. Kravitch |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Lewis R. Morgan, joined by Phyllis A. Kravitch |
| Dissent | Paul Hitch Roney |
Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth, 658 F.2d 310 (5th Cir. 1981), was a United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit case that significantly influenced the development of modern Indian Gaming law. In Seminole Tribe, the Fifth Circuit ruled that the State of Florida did not have authority to enforce the Florida Bingo Statute on the Seminole Tribe of Florida's reservation, even though Florida is a Public Law 280 state with special rights to extend criminal and limited civil jurisdiction over Indian Country. Because of the decision, the Seminole Tribe was able to build and operate the nation's first tribally-owned high-stakes bingo parlor on their reservation in Florida, even though bingo for profit was illegal under Florida law at the time. Many other tribes later followed the Seminole Tribe's lead by building their own bingo parlors on their reservations, leading many scholars to call the Seminole Tribe's victory in this case the "birth" of modern commercial gambling on reservations.