Ninigret Development Corp. v. Narragansett Indian Wetuomuck Housing Authority

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

This matter requires us to explore the complex web of considerations that envelops the interrelationship between federal courts and. Indian tribal courts. We conclude that the district court had subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Withal, the scope of that jurisdiction was narrow, enabling the court, in effect, only to pass upon (1) the extent of the tribal court’s jurisdiction over the plaintiffs claims, and (2) the defendant’s assertion that, as an arm of a federally recognized Indian tribe, the impervious shield of tribal sovereign immunity protected it…