On February 24, the United States Supreme Court ruled that 31 acres of land taken into trust by the Secretary of Interior for the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island were not eligible for such an action under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). In the majority opinion delivered by Justice Thomas, the court determined that the act provided authority for the Secretary of the Interior to take lands into trust only for tribes that were federally recognized in 1934 when Congress enacted the IRA. The Narragansett Tribe received federal recognition in 1983.