Here is the opinion. Briefs later, hopefully.
An excerpt:
Furry instead relies on the one state court decision that has gone the other way, Bittle v. Bahe, 192 P.3d 810 (Okla. 2008), where the Oklahoma Supreme Court, over strong dissent, held that § 1161, read together with Rehner, abrogated tribal immunity from any suit based on state laws related to alcohol, including private tort suits. See id. at 823. Notwithstanding the admonition of the United States Supreme Court in Kiowa Tribe that “[t]here is a difference between the right to demand compliance with state laws [26] and the means available to enforce them,” 523 U.S. at 755, the Oklahoma Supreme Court determined that private tort actions to enforce compliance with state liquor laws were permissible because the “state law remedy to recover money damages furthers the legitimate objectives of the state’s liquor laws,” Bittle, 192 P.3d at 823. Although the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s analysis does not bind this Court in any way, we also find it unpersuasive and inconsistent with precedents from this Court and the United States Supreme Court, which have established that congressional abrogation of tribal immunity must be express and unequivocal. Cf. Bittle, 192 P.3d at 829, 833 (Kauger, J., dissenting) (observing that the majority opinion “ignores controlling precedents” and that “[i]t takes a great leap of jurisprudence to determine that Rice v. Rehner is dispositive of the issue of sovereign immunity as it relates to private dram shop actions”).
Turtle Talk 