Here is the tribe’s press release. An excerpt:
The other referendum sought to repeal Resolution 2010-249, “Pursuit of Settlement of a Land Claim with respect to property in the Romulus, Michigan Metropolitan Area.”
The resolution was approved November 9 by the Sault Tribe board of directors.
The voters decided, by a vote of 1,864 to 2,986, to not approve Resolution 2010-249, thereby overturning the board’s action.
And:
Here is the opinion in ZYZY Corp. v. Hernandez (Tex. App.).
An excerpt from fairly amazing facts:
The lawsuit arises out of an article published in the News-Guide on April 27, 2006. The article reported on a hearing held April 26, 2006, before the Tribal District Court for the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. That proceeding concerned a long-standing dispute about who were the legitimate and duly elected leaders of the tribe. During the hearing, the plaintiffs called Hernandez to testify about some of the facts surrounding the dispute. Hernandez, who is not a member of the tribe, testified she was hired to be legal counsel for the tribe in October 2002, and was on retainer at the time of the hearing. In response to a question about how much of her legal practice is devoted to work for the tribe, Hernandez testified, “I make roughly about ten percent of my income from the tribe.”
The day after the hearing, the article on the front page of the News-Guide contained the subheadline, “Gloria Hernandez admits she’s skimming 10% of casino profits off the top.” The article stated in part:
The most damning of testimony came when Hernandez admitted on the stand that she rakes off a 10% share of Lucky Eagle Casino profits for her services to the handful of remaining Kickapoo insurgents. This admission is a clear cut violation of National Indian Gaming Commission rules and regulations which require approval of any management contract by an outsider hired to oversee an Indian casino operation. And Hernandez leaves little doubt she intended to defraud to [sic] the federal governmental agency when she has never listed herself as anything but a legal representative to the Kickapoo Tribe of Texas.
News article here. An excerpt:
Anticipating the end of monthly distributions of gaming profits to tribal members, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council late last year enacted a law to protect the tribe’s older, needy members.
The law provides for up to $50,000 a year in financial assistance for “elders,” who are defined for the purposes of the law as those 60 and older as well as those who were at least 55 as of Dec. 31, 2010. The assistance was to begin Jan. 1, the law states.
It’s estimated that about 80 members of the 850-member tribe are at least 55 years old.
Under the new law, elders are eligible to receive annual assistance equal to a “standard of need,” with the amount of the assistance reduced by “offset income” the elder receives in excess of $25,000.
Here: BMIC Response to LTBB Motion.
Here are the two opening briefs:
Judges SENTELLE, TATEL, and EDWARDS have been assigned the case.
Lower court materials are here.
Here: Michigan Motion for PI
Here: Jan11_IndianGaming
Apologies to Anthony Broadman for giving credit to the wrong person for his work all morning long. Need a nap.
Interesting case to watch, involving the ability of a local municipality to sell land to an Indian tribe for gaming purposes when state law does not expressly authorize Indian gaming. Currently pending before an appellate court.
Turtle Talk 
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