Violating Tribal Sovereignty

“I felt like I had the right to do what I did,” Thompson told Tribal Business News. “It is a medicine, and it's part of our treaty to be able to harvest and utilize it as a medicine.”

The case that could reshape how Public Law 280 applies to cannabis rights is State of Minnesota v. Todd Jeremy Thompson. 

Todd Thompson, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, was charged in Mahnomen County with first-degree possession of cannabis with intent to sell after state agents and tribal police raided his smoke shop, Asema Tobacco and Pipe, in August 2023. 
The legal arguments in the case center on:
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• Public Law 280: This federal law generally granted certain states, including Minnesota, criminal jurisdiction over crimes committed by tribal members on reservation land.
• Cannabis Legalization: Minnesota legalized recreational marijuana just one day before the raid on Thompson's shop. Thompson's counsel is arguing that because recreational cannabis is now legal under state law, the issue is a civil regulatory matter rather than a criminal one.
• Jurisdiction: Under the Public Law 280 framework, states have criminal jurisdiction but generally do not have the same level of authority to enforce civil-regulatory laws on tribal land. Thompson's defense contends that the state lacks the jurisdiction to criminally prosecute him for a civil-regulatory violation. 

The outcome of the case, which had oral arguments in the Minnesota Court of Appeals in November 2025, could set a significant precedent for how state cannabis laws interact with tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction under Public Law 280 in states that have legalized marijuana

In 1953, Congress enacted Public Law 83-280 (67 Stat. 588) to grant certain states criminal jurisdiction over American Indians on reservations and to allow civil litigation that had come under tribal or federal court jurisdiction to be handled by state courts.  However, the law did not grant states regulatory power over tribes or lands held in trust by the United States; federally guaranteed tribal hunting, trapping, and fishing rights; basic tribal governmental functions such as enrollment and domestic relations; nor the power to impose state taxes.  These states also may not regulate matters such as environmental control, land use, gambling, and licenses on federal Indian reservations.

The states required by Public Law 280 to assume civil and criminal jurisdiction over federal Indian lands were Alaska (except the Metlakatla Indian Community on the Annette Island Reserve, which maintains criminal jurisdiction), California, Minnesota (except the Red Lake Reservation), Nebraska, Oregon (except the Warm Springs Reservation), and Wisconsin.  In addition, the federal government gave up all special criminal jurisdiction in these states over Indian offenders and victims.  The states that elected to assume full or partial jurisdiction were Arizona (1967), Florida (1961), Idaho (1963, subject to tribal consent), Iowa (1967), Montana (1963), Nevada (1955), North Dakota (1963, subject to tribal consent), South Dakota (1957-1961), Utah (1971), and Washington (1957-1963).
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Subsequent acts of Congress, court decisions, and state actions to retrocede jurisdiction back to the Federal Government have muted some of the effects of the 1953 law, and strengthened the tribes’ jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters on their reservations.