The Florida Supreme Court held oral argument yesterday (H/T Indianz) on the state law challenge to the Class III compact executed by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. You can listen here.
Here are some of the major materials in House of Representatives v. Crist (the rest are at this link):
Complaint — State of Nebraska v. National Indian Gaming Commission
Indianz.com reported this morning that:
Nebraska attorney general Jon Bruning on Wednesday sued the National Indian Gaming Commission for allowing the Ponca Tribe to open a casino in Iowa. Bruning is upset that the tribe, whose headquarters are in Nebraska, might open a casino across the border in Carter Lake, Iowa. He filed suit in the federal district court for the Southern District of Iowa.. The state of Iowa is also considering a lawsuit.
Does the National Labor Relations Board have authority to issue subpoenas to tribal cops?
From the New London Day:
HARTFORD – Today’s National Labor Relations Board hearing on the unionization of casino dealers began with a fiery debate on sovereign immunity.
United States v. Hunter, No. 06-565 (N.D. Cal.), is an unusual case. In 2001, it appears that the National Indian Gaming Commission investigated the improper expenditure of Indian gaming revenues by tribal council members at Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians. They reached a settlement and consent decree (attached as Exh. A to Deft. Crabtree’s Motion to Dismiss below).
In short, tribal council members allegedly continued their bad behavior — using gaming revenues to buy first class plane tickets, donate to political causes, and other uses. The US then brought a criminal case, alleging violation of IGRA (as a criminal matter) when these council members (Hunter et al.) spent gaming revenues on political causes and first class tickets.
What?!?!
I read this just after I assign my students a project to assess the Port Huron deal….
From the Port Huron Times Herald:
The long-stalled effort to open an Indian-owned casino in Port Huron has received a major boost from Michigan’s governor, who has thrown her support behind the project.
From Crain’s Detroit Business:
Fight over casino funds limits kitty for MEDC
LANSING — A southwest Michigan American Indian tribe is withholding casino revenue destined for state economic-development operations, posing the latest twist in funding uncertainty for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
In United States v. Roach et al., the Western District of North Carolina used future, expected tribal per cap to calculate restitution in a murder case.
From Indianz:
Tribes have until March 9 to comment on the four controversial Class II initiatives proposed by the National Indian Gaming Commission. In notices published today in the Federal Register, the NIGC extended the comment period on the following: classification standards for bingo, pull tabs and similar games; a definition of electronic Class II games; minimum internal control standards for Class II games and technical standards for Class II games. The NIGC says the rules will clarify the difference between Class II games like bingo and Class III games like slot machines. Technological advances have blurred the lines. “Class II gaming has been the bedrock of Indian gaming and continues to play a vital role in the expanding industry. In order to preserve and respect the importance of Class II gaming, we are moving forward keeping all comments in mind and will act in a way to distinguish Class II gaming from Class III gaming,” NIGC Chairman Phil Hogen said.
From the NYTs:
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made exactly the right call when he recently denied permission to 11 Indian tribes around the country to acquire more land in order to build casinos.
We blogged previously about the lawsuit filed in Navajo tribal court over the proposed Navajo gaming loan. It turns out the lawsuit was successful in apparently causing the lender to change the terms of the deal (H/T Indianz). This is an interesting development and probably not a welcome one from the perspective of gaming tribes. If tribal court lawsuits challenging the terms of a gaming-related loan, or in this case the authority of the Navajo legislature to approve the loan, are successful in any area, my guess is the price for loans will go up everywhere.
Update: No suit has been filed in the Navajo Nation courts. The 30 day waiting period required by the Navajo Sovereign Immunity Act (the title doesn’t use “Nation”) just expired and we were preparing to file suit. There has been no public announcement, but there are rumors to the effect that the notice of suit stopped the loan. They are now looking at other sources of funding for the casino, such as a trust fund set aside for acquiring land.
From Indianz:
Turtle Talk 
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