Washington Tribe Appeals NIGC Decision to Federal Court

Doc. 1- Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief

Frank’s Landing Indian Community is suing the National Indian Gaming Commission for rejecting its class II gaming regulations.  The Commission ruled in March that the Community is not a federally-recognized Tribe for the purposes of IGRA.  Frank’s Landing was recognized by Congress in 1994.

Summary Judgment Order in Commonwealth v. The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head

Briefs and orders on the motion for summary judgment in re Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head:

Plaintiffs’ Motion

Doc. 113 – Commonwealth’s memo in support of its motion

Doc. 117 – Town of Aquinnah’s memo in support of its motion

Doc. 121 – AGHCA’s memo in support of its motion

Doc. 133 – Wampanoag Tribe’s opposition brief

Doc. 144 – Town of Aquinnah’s reply brief

Doc. 145 – AGHCA’s reply brief

Doc. 147 – Commonwealth’s reply brief

Defendant’s Motion

Doc. 119 – Wampanoag Tribe’s memo in support of its motion

Doc. 131 – Plaintiffs’ opposition brief

Doc. 150 – Wampanoag Tribe’s reply brief

Doc. 151 – Memorandum and Order

Mass. District Court has granted summary judgment to the Commonwealth against the Wampanoag Tribe (Aquinnah) for its proposed class II gaming facility on settlement lands.  The Court ruled that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 did not repeal the Massachusetts Settlement Act of 1987 which prohibited gaming on settlement lands.

Mashpee Casino Land Deal in E. Taunton, MA Finalized

The Mashpee Tribe is planning to locate its casino in Taunton, a struggling city in Southeastern Massachusetts, the city where my grandparents lived in fact. The land deal was just finalized. It sounds like the economic development will be a win-win for the Tribe and the Taunton. Here’s the Taunton Daily Gazette story. Previous coverage here.

Pueblo of Pojoaque v. New Mexico Preliminary Injunction Order (Gaming Dispute)

Previous filings posted here.

31 Memorandum Opinion and Order

32 Preliminary Injunction

MGM Resorts Sues Connecticut over New Tribal Gaming Act

The complaint, filed in federal district court in Connecticut on August 4, is here: 273548545-MGM-v-Malloy Complaint.

The state law, signed by the Governor on June 19, 2015, is here.

From the complaint:

MGM seeks to have the Act declared invalid and enjoined on two principle bases:

a. The Act violates the Equal Protection Clause because it is a race-based set-aside in favor of the two Preferred Tribes at the expense of all other tribes, races, and entities; and

b. The Act violates the dormant Commerce Clause because it discriminates on its face in favor of the two in-state Preferred Tribes at the expense of out-of-state competitors, all of whom are barred from attempting to develop a casino gaming facility in Connecticut.

Ninth Circuit Denies En Banc Review in Tulalip Tribes Gaming Compact Dispute

Here is the order in Tulalip Tribes v. State of Washington:

2015-05-28 Dkt #57 Denial of Pet for Rehearing En Banc

En banc petition here.

Panel opinion here. Briefs here.

Federal Court Dismisses Title VII Claim against Seminole Casino

Here are the materials in Longo v. Seminole Indian Casino–Immokalee (M.D. Fla.):

24 Motion to Dismiss

25 Response

28 Reply

29 Surreply

31 DCT Order

An excerpt:

Remarkably, Plaintiff demands that the Court ignore this clear and dispositive analysis, and hold that the Tribe is not actually a federally recognized tribe. Plaintiff acknowledges that to do so, this Court would have to find not only that its own previous opinion, Mastro v. Seminole Tribe of Florida, No. 2:12–cv–411–SPC–38UAM, 2013 WL 3350567, at *1 (M.D.Fla.2013), was incorrect, but also that the Eleventh Circuit has erred on multiple occasions too, see Mastro, 578 F.App’x 801; Contour Spa at the Hard Rock, Inc. v. Seminole Tribe of Florida, 692 F.3d 1200 (11th Cir.2012). To support this sizeable request, Plaintiff provides the Court with numerous pages of historical context and argument, explaining how the Tribe, to this date, has failed to achieve federal recognition as an Indian tribe. But this argument is completely without merit. This Court, the Eleventh Circuit, and the Florida Supreme Court “rotely” accept that the Tribe is federally recognized because it is. Unsurprisingly, this has not changed in 2015. A simple search in the Federal Register reveals as much. To be sure, the United States Bureau of Indian Affair’s most recent list of “Indian entities … acknowledged to have the immunities and privileges available to federally recognized Indian tribes” includes the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, 80 FR 1942–02 (2015) (emphasis added).

Federal Court Denies Motion for Preliminary Injunction to Stop Jamul Indian Village Casino Project

Here is the order in the case now captioned Jamul Action Committee v. Chaudhuri (E.D. Cal.):

93 DCT Order Denying Injunction

Pleadings and prior orders here.

Tulalip Tribes En Banc Petition in Compact Dispute with State of Washington

Here is the petition in Tulalip Tribes v. State of Washington:

2015-05-01 Dkt# Tulalip Petition for Rehearing En Banc

Panel opinion here. Briefs here.