Harry Blackmun

“ It does not necessarily follow that a finding of inherent zoning authority over fee lands on a checkerboarded reservation, an authority indispensable to the fulfillment of a tribe's uncontested right to zone its trust lands, also entails a finding of inherent authority for all police powers. As Montana itself demonstrates, there may be cases in which tribes assert the power to regulate activities as to which they have no valid interest. ”

“ And how can anyone doubt that a tribe's inability to zone substantial tracts of fee land w thin its own reservation-tracts that are inextricably intermingled with reservation trust lands-would destroy the tribe's ability to engage in the systematic and coordinated utilization of land that is the very essence of zoning authority? ”

“ This fundamental sovereign power of local governments to control land use is especially vital to Indians, who enjoy a unique historical and cultural connection to the land. See, e.g., FPC v. Tuscarora Indian Nation, 362 U.S. 99, 142, 80 S.Ct. ”

“ A weak state, in order to provide for its safety, may place itself under the protection of one more powerful, without stripping itself of the right of government, and ceasing to be a state."↑ See Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 5 Pet. 1, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831) ; Worcester v. Georgia, 6 Pet. 515, 8 L.Ed. 483 (1832) ; see also Johnson v. McIntosh, 8 Wheat. 543, 5 L.Ed. 681 (1823) .↑ Justice WHITE's opinion asserts that Wheeler "made clear" that all tribal regulatory authority over relations with non-Indians is necessarily inconsistent with their dependent status and, therefore, divested. ”