Timpanogos Tribe v. Conway: Fishing for an Exception to State Sovereign Immunity in Natural Resource Regulation

In Timpanogos Tribe v. Conway, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held in 2002 that the 11th Amendment did not bar a tribe's suit against a state for declaratory relief from Utah's hunting and fishing regulations. The validity of the holding is examined in light of recent US Supreme Court jurisprudence concerning the 11th Amendment. Background data on tribal hunting and fishing rights, and 11th Amendment issues when tribes try to sue states, are provided. The court's reasoning failed to adequately address the additional 11th Amendment restrictions imposed by the US Supreme Court's 1997 decision in Idaho v. Coeur d'Alene. The court missed an opportunity to consider the degree to which a state's environmental regulation may supersede tribal treaty rights.