In Strate v. A-1 Contractors, 520 U.S. 438 (1997) the Court held a tribal court in North Dakota did not have jurisdiction over an action brought by a non-Indian plaintiff against a non-Indian defendant seeking damages arising out of an auto accident on a state highway within the exterior boundaries of a reservation. The Supreme Court held "tribal courts may not entertain claims against nonmembers arising out of accidents on state highways, absent a statute or treaty authorizing the tribe to govern the conduct of nonmembers on the highway in question." Strate v. A-1 Contractors, involved a traffic accident between two non-Indians on a portion of a North Dakota state highway running through the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, which the State maintained under a right-of-way granted by the United States. The highway was located on land held by the United States in trust for the Three Affiliated Tribes. After the tribal court ruled it had authority to adjudicate the lawsuit, the defendants sought a declaratory judgment and an injunction against further proceedings in tribal court. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the tribal court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the dispute, and the Supreme Court affirmed in a unanimous opinion. In ruling the tribal court had no jurisdiction, the Supreme Court applied the test set forth in Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981), "the pathmarking case concerning tribal civil authority over nonmembers." Strate, 520 U.S. at 445. Montana holds "that, absent a different congressional direction, Indian tribes lack civil authority over the conduct of nonmembers on non-Indian land within a reservation, subject to two exceptions: The first exception relates to nonmembers who enter consensual relationships with the tribe or its members; the second concerns activity that directly affects the tribe's political integrity, economic security, health, or welfare." Id. at 446. The Court rejected the argument that Montana did not govern because the land underlying the scene of the accident was held in trust for the tribe and its members, concluding the "right-of-way North Dakota acquired for the State's highway renders the 6.59-mile stretch equivalent, for nonmember governance purposes, to alienated, non-Indian land." Strate, 520 U.S. at 454. Forming part of the State's highway, the right-of-way is open to the public, and traffic on it is subject to the State's control. The Tribes have consented to, and received payment for, the State's use of the 6.59-mile stretch for a public highway. They have retained no gatekeeping right. So long as the stretch is maintained as part of the State's highway, the Tribes cannot assert a landowner's right to occupy and exclude. . . . We therefore align the right-of-way, for the purpose at hand, with land alienated to non-Indians. Our decision in Montana, accordingly, governs this case. Id. at 455-56. The Court concluded that a car accident on a public highway does not meet either of Montana's two exceptions, and concluded the tribal court had no jurisdiction.