El Paso Natural Gas Co. v. Neztsosie

The issue is whether the judicially created doctrine of tribal-court exhaustion, requiring a district court to stay its hand while a tribal court determines its own jurisdiction, should apply in this case, which if brought in a state court would be subject to removal. We think the exhaustion doctrine should not extend so far.

I

With the object of “encouraging] the private sector to become involved in the development of atomic energy for peaceful purposes,” Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., 488 U. S. 59, 68 (1978), Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA), 68…