From the Leelanau Enterprise:
Hank Bailey wanted to become the first member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to kill a bull elk with a muzzle loader.
HANK BAILEY: with the elk he shot.
He figures Michigan’s elk herd had been mostly devastated before his ancestors started hunting with firearms. After the herd was re-established by state biologists early last century, hunts were strictly regulated and the odds of receiving a tag were slight.
Judge Leon ruled from the bench in this case on Monday, denying a TRO motion from Patchak, a member of 23 is Enough and MichGO (although he challenges that last part), to stop the trust acquisition of land in Allegan County for the Gun Lake Band.
Here is the transcript: patchak-v-kempthorne-transcript
Given the judge’s hostility toward Patchak’s attorney and legal positions, occasionally labeling them frivolous, one could argue (I suppose) that a Rule 11 motion could be in order. But I highly doubt that such a motion would be treated favorably by Judge Leon, who does not appear to suffer fools gladly.
Here are the pleadings.
From Crain’s Detroit Business:
wo Detroit casinos are rolling snake eyes in the debt market.
A top ratings service downgraded its outlook for MotorCity Casino‘s parent company, citing a host of financial concerns. Greektown Holdings L.L.C. has until the end of this week to submit a reorganization plan that can resolve its swelling debts without need for a sale.
An agreement entered in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last month between the troubled Greektown Casino owners and its creditors gives the parties until Feb. 1 to submit a “co-exclusive” plan to restructure and settle its debts.
In other words, if the casino company doesn’t submit a plan — with the consent of as many bondholders and other litigants as possible — by the deadline, creditors can submit restructuring plans of their own.
From Western Michigan Business:
A [federal] court judge today dismissed the final legal obstacle to the Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi Indians‘ casino plans.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon denied former Wayland Township Trustee David Patchak‘s request for a stay blocking the Department of Interior from taking land near Wayland into trust for the Gun Lake Band while the Supreme Court of the United States considers a tribal gaming case in Rhode Island.
The Supreme Court last week refused to hear an appeal by Grand Rapids-based Michigan Gambling Opposition — MichGO — to derail permanently taking the 147 acres into trust for the tribe.
From West Michigan Business:
GRAND RAPIDS — Odds are even the Gun Lake casino will be a winning bet today.
This morning, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon was to hear motions that could once more delay a casino plan, now entering its 10th year of legal maneuvering.
At stake: whether the federal government can turn 147 acres in Wayland Township into tribal land, by placing it in trust.
The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi said last week they would wait until 5 p.m. today before inking the transfer. That is expected to happen if the judge denies motions to delay.
Robert Dale Parker (Illinois) will be speaking here on Monday, January 26, 2009 at 11AM. The talk is at the Castle Board Room at the MSU College of Law. Lunch will be served at noon, and it is FREE!
Prof. Meg Noori (Michigan) and Prof. Pat LeBeau (MSU) will serve as commentators.
Prof. Parker will be speaking about his book “The Sound the Stars Make Rushing through the Sky: The Writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft” (Penn. Press). His website about the book and Jane Schoolcraft is here.
Here’s the news article about it (via Indianz). The materials are here:
Who knows, except the people at the Supreme Court?
One possibility is that the Supreme Court denied cert in MichGO because the Court is going to uphold the Secretary of Interior’s authority to take land into trust for tribes not federally recognized in 1934 (tribes like the Gun Lake Band and the Narragansett Tribe), the key issue in Carcieri. If the Court was to reject the Secretary’s authority in Carcieri, then there would be reason to grant cert in MichGO to correct the lower court’s holding. They might choose to do this through a tool called GVR — Grant, Vacate, and Remand. But if the Court was to affirm the Secretary’s holding, then the lower court decision in MichGO is correct even after Carcieri, and so there’s no reason to review the decision.
However, there might be a problem with this theory; namely (if I am correct), MichGO never once argued that Gun Lake Band is ineligible under Section 5 because it wasn’t recognized in 1934. They did raise it in the cert petition, but one suspects that it’s too late then. MichGO could have raised the question from the outset, because the Narragansett litigation had been ongoing for some time. So maybe that’s why the Court denied cert in MichGO. And, if so, the cert denial offers no clues as to the possible outcome in Carcieri.
Finally, one great bit of news — since the Court denied cert in MichGO, the nondelegation doctrine claim that MichGO brought to the Court once again goes by the wayside (the Court had previously refused to accept this question in Carcieri as well, and in several other cases before that).
The SCT list of orders is here (the line is near the bottom of page 10).
The Gun Lake Band’s press release is here: pr-cert-denied-12109
And a timeline of the case is here: glt-casino-timeline-12109
Thanks to Gale and Zeke for these materials.
Nokomis Learning Center will be hosting a book club meeting about my book “American Indian Education: Counternarratives in Racism, Struggle, and the Law” tomorrow night at 6 PM. Check out the events calendar.
Turtle Talk 
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