Four significant IRA
provisions are
codified
at 25 U.S.C. §§ 465, 467, 476(a) and 479 respectively and they
provide in
relevant part as follows (all
emphases added unless otherwise noted) :
25 U.S.C. § 465 - Acquisition of lands, water rights or surface rights; appropriation; title to lands; tax exemption:
The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to acquire through purchase, relinquishment,gift, exchange, or assignment, any interest in lands, water rights, or surface rights to lands, within or without existing reservations, including trust or otherwise restricted
allotments whether the allottee be living or deceased, for the purpose of providing land for Indians.
* * *
Title to any lands or rights acquired pursuant to this Act . . .
shall be taken in the name of the United States in trust for the Indian tribe or individual Indian for which the land is
acquired, and such lands or rights shall be exempt from State and local taxation.
25 U.S.C. § 467 – New Indian Reservations:
The Secretary of the
Interior is hereby
authorized to proclaim new Indian
reservations on lands
acquired
pursuant to any authority
conferred by this
Act, or
to add such lands to existing reservations:
Provided, That lands added to
existing reservations shall be
designated for the exclusive use of Indians
entitled by
enrollment or by tribal
membership to residence at such
reservations.
25 U.S.C. § 476(a):
Any Indian tribe shall have the right to organize for its common welfare, and may adopt an appropriate constitution and bylaws. . . [.]
25 U.S.C. § 479 – Definitions:
The term "Indian" as used in
[the
IRA] shall include
all persons of Indian descent who are members of any recognized
Indian tribe now under Federal
jurisdiction, and all persons
who are descendants of such members who were, on
June 1, 1934, residing within
the present boundaries of any Indian reservation,
and shall further include all
other persons of one-half or
more Indian blood. .. . . The term "tribe"
wherever
used in this Act shall be
construed to refer to any Indian tribe, organized
band, pueblo, or the Indians
residing on one
reservation. The words "adult
Indians" wherever used in this Act
shall be construed to refer to Indians who
have
attained the age of twenty-one
years.
As Cohen notes, the above IRA definitions make three classes of Indians eligible to organize under the [IRA]:
(1) Members of any recognized Indian tribe now under federal jurisdiction;