 Merrion did not want to pay a severance tax to both New Mexico and the tribe , and filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico , along with such major companies as Atlantic Richfield ( now part of BP ) , Getty Oil , Gulf Oil , and Phillips Petroleum ( now ConocoPhillips ) , among others . The case was not filed until 15 days before the severance tax was due . In the hearing on the temporary injunction on June 17 , 1977 , Merrion argued that the tribe 's severance tax was unconstitutional , violating both the Commerce clause and Equal protection clause , and that it was both taxation without representation and double taxation . In addition , the plaintiffs argued against the entire concept of tribal sovereignty , stating that it had been a " legal fiction for decades . " U.S. District Judge H. <unk> Payne granted the temporary injunction and set the hearing on the permanent injunction for August 29 , 1977 . The oil companies showed up with approximately 40 @-@ 50 attorneys , compared to 2 or 3 lawyers for the tribe . Both sides made essentially the same arguments as for the temporary injunction . Following the hearing , District court ruled that the tribe 's tax violated the Commerce clause of the Constitution and that only state and local authorities had the ability to tax mineral rights on Indian reservations . The court then issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the collection of the tax by the tribe . 
