25 U.S.C. § 479
Section 479 · Definitions
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 83 court decisions — leading case Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation (1980)
Most recently applied in Littlefield v. Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe (February 2020)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The term “Indian” as used in this Act 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. For the purposes of this Act, Eskimos and other aboriginal peoples of Alaska shall be considered Indians. 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.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This Act, referred to in text, is act June 18, 1934, which is classified generally to this subchapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 461 of this title and Tables.
Admission of Alaska as State
Admission of Alaska into the Union was accomplished Jan. 3, 1959, on issuance of Proc. No. 3269, Jan. 3, 1959, 24 F.R. 81, 73 Stat. c16, as required by sections 1 and 8(c) of Pub. L. 85–508, July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339, set out as notes preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.
Cross References
Right-of-way grant, consent of tribal officials, see section 324 of this title.