Editing Devolution (section)

==United States==
{{see also|State constitution (United States)|Home Rule in the United States|Municipal corporation}}

[[File:Forthallindancasiono2007.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Fort Hall Indian Casino, Idaho. Gambling is allowed within [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] reservation lands while illegal on non-reservation land geographically in the same state.]]

In the United States the federal government and state governments are sovereign. As Native American tribes and the governments they formed pre-date the formation of the United States, their legal position as sovereigns co-exists alongside the individual states and the Federal government. The legal relationships with [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes and their government structures are the jurisdiction of [[United States Congress|Congress]]. This relationship is unique to each of the more than 500 tribes and also involves International Treaties between various tribes and Spain, Great Britain, and the eventual United States.
Territories are under the direct jurisdiction of Congress. Territorial governments are thus devolved by acts of Congress. Political subdivisions of a state, such as a county or municipality, are a type of devolved government and are defined by individual state constitutions and laws.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===District of Columbia===
{{Main|District of Columbia home rule}}
In the United States, the [[District of Columbia]] offers an illustration of devolved government. The District is separate from any state, and has its own elected government. In many ways, on a day-to-day basis, it operates much like another state, with its own laws, court system, Department of Motor Vehicles, public university, and so on. However, the governments of the 50 states are reserved a broad range of powers in the [[U.S. Constitution]], and most of their laws cannot be voided by any act of U.S. federal government. The District of Columbia, by contrast, is constitutionally under the sole control of the [[United States Congress]], which created the current District government by statute. Any law passed by the District legislature can be nullified by congressional action, and indeed the District government could be significantly altered or eliminated by a simple majority vote in Congress.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}