State of New York v. Shinnecock Indian Nation

Federal question jurisdiction exists where, inter alia, it is clear from the face of the complaint that “the plaintiffs right to relief necessarily depends on the resolution of a substantial question of federal law.” Franchise Tax Board v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 27-28, 103 S.Ct. 2841, 77 L.Ed.2d 420 (1983). From the record and the pleadings, the tribe is fee simple owner of West-woods and occupies that tract of land outright, invoking at the outset of the case a presumption that Westwoods is Indian land and is thus beyond the regulatory purview of the state. Only by…