RFP to Legally Represent the Arizona Indian Gaming Association

Download request for proposals here.

Proposals due June 15, 2016.

Ninth Circuit Rejects NEPA Challenge to NIGC Authority

Here is the opinion in Jamul Action Committee v. Chaudhuri.

The court’s syllabus:

The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of a petition for a writ of mandamus under the Administrative Procedure Act of a group of tribal members and organizations, alleging that the National Indian Gaming Commission violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved the Jamul Indian Village’s gaming ordinance for a casino in Jamul, California, without first conducting a NEPA environmental review. The district court held that the Gaming Commission’s approval of the 2013 gaming ordinance was not “major federal action” within the meaning of NEPA requiring the preparation of an environmental impact statement. Affirming on different grounds than the district court, the panel held that even if the GamingCommission’s approval of the gaming ordinance was a major federal action within the meaning of NEPA, the GamingCommission was not required to prepare an environmental impact statement because there was an irreconcilable statutory conflict between NEPA and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, pursuant to San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Auth. v. Jewell, 747 F.3d 581, 648 (9th Cir. 2014) (holding that an agency need not adhere to NEPA “where doing so ‘would create an irreconcilable and fundamental conflict’ with the substantive statute at issue”).

Briefs here.

 

Federal Court Refuses to Lift Injunction against Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Gaming, but Ends Continuing Jurisdiction

Here are the materials in State of Texas v. Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (W.D. Tex.):

531 Pueblo Motions

538 Texas Response

591 Pueblo Reply

592 Alabama Coushatta Tribe Amicus Brief

600 Pueblo Response to American Legion Amicus Brief

608 DCT order

First Circuit Briefs in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)

Here:

Tribe Brief

US Amicus Brief

State Brief

Tribe Reply

Lower court materials here.

Shane Plumer on Turning Gaming Dollars Into Non-Gaming Revenue

Shane Plumer has published “Turning Gaming Dollars Into Non-Gaming Revenue: Hedging For The Seventh Generation” in the Journal of Law and Inequality’s Sua Sponte.

Here is the abstract:

There are four levels of diversification that tribes engage in: level one consists of amenities to gaming facilities; level two consists of tourist-reliant non-gaming businesses; level three involves on-reservation businesses that export products off the reservation; and the most sophisticated level involves acquiring off-reservation businesses in order to access more diverse markets. Historically, tribal economic development has been hindered by lack of access to capital markets, limitations placed on federal funding, federal Indian policy that requires creation of jobs on the reservation, information asymmetry and conservative investment strategies that are holdovers from how federal agencies invested tribal funds. This article provides a roadmap for cutting-edge tribal economic development that focuses on off-reservation investment by mobilizing investment banks and private equity in order to diversify tribal investment portfolios.

SCOTUS Denies Cert in Seneca Gaming Case, Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County v. Chaudhuri

Here is the order list today.

Briefs here.

California v. Pauma Cert Stage Briefs

Here are the briefs in California v. Pauma Band of Luiseño Mission Indians of the Pauma and Yuima Reservation:

Cal v Pauma Cert Petn

Pauma Cert Opposition Brief

And Pauma Band of Luiseño Mission Indians of the Pauma and Yuima Reservation v. California:

Pauma Cert Petn

California Cert Opposition Brief

Lower court materials here (panel, en banc).

 

First Issue of Indian Gaming Lawyer

Download Vol. 1 No.1 (Spring 2016) here.

Ante Up: Pojoaque Pueblo is the last holdout in a fight over the state’s cut of gaming revenues

Link to Santa Fe Register article by Steven Hsieh here.

Pojoaque/New Mexico Contempt Materials in Gaming Compact Dispute

Here are the materials in Pueblo of Pojoaque v. State of New Mexico (D. N.M.):

53 Pojoaque Motion for Contempt

62 Response

68 Reply

115 DCT Order

An excerpt:

The Court will deny the Motion. First, although the Plaintiffs are not required to demonstrate that they suffered actual damages, such damages would help them to establish that the deferrals constitute threats. Second, the deferrals do not “threaten” the vendors within Judge Brack’s PI’s meaning. The Gaming Board, however, treads perilously close to civil contempt and should take care not to interfere with the Plaintiffs’ vendors.