Michigan Indian

Impact of Michigan’s Smoking Ban on Indian Casinos

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

From the AP:

DETROIT (AP) — If smoking is banned in Detroit bars, restaurants and workplaces, Betty Gilbert says it will hurt the city’s casinos.

Gilbert, who was smoking a cigarette Friday with members of her bowling team on a sidewalk near Greektown Casino downtown, should know. The 69-year-old from Cape May County, N.J. — who said she usually gambles weekly in Atlantic City — plans to cut back when that city’s smoking law goes into effect.

“If they cut out the smoking, they should also cut out the drinking,” Gilbert said.

A ban passed by the Michigan Senate on Thursday now heads to the House, which passed a narrower bill five months ago. If the new bill becomes law, smokers could pass up the trip downtown to gamble and head instead to Indian casinos, which aren’t affected, industry observers said.

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ICT Editorial on Fee to Trust Statute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From ICT:

The federal government’s recent actions involving its authority to make decisions on acquiring land in trust for tribal gaming purposes may inadvertently threaten the authority and duty of the secretary of the Interior Department to take land into trust for Indian tribes.

On April 29, the D.C. Circuit decided an innocuous case involving the secretary of Interior’s decision to take land into trust for the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (also known as the Gun Lake Band). It was the third such opinion in recent years involving Michigan Potawatomi Indian tribes, each brought by well-funded citizens groups opposing Indian gaming. The suits were mere harassment suits, intended to delay rather than prevent the opening of the Potawatomi gaming operations. Each of the suits brought similar claims.

Of import, one claim was that Section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act, the statute that authorizes the secretary to take land into trust for Indian tribes, was an unconstitutional delegation of congressional authority. The first two D.C. Circuit panel decisions (2006 and 2007), involving the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians, rejected the constitutional challenge to Section 5 without much discussion or dissent. In fact, since 1995, at least three other federal appellate circuits have rejected the same kind of challenge to the statute, so this is unsurprising.

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GTB News Coverage on Indianz

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

An attorney for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians says a lawsuit challenging the Michigan tribe’s land-into-trust lawsuit is “fruitless.”

The tribe wants about 22 acres placed in trust. A group of property owners, however, claims the land belongs to them. Tribal attorney William Rastetter said the plaintiffs who filed the case are wasting their time. He said the state and federal courts have already ruled the land doesn’t belong to them. The land is part of the Leelanau Trail, which the tribe supports. The land used to be a former railroad right-of-way. In related Grand Traverse news, the tribe has certified the results of its April 9 primary. Incumbent chairman Robert Kewaygoshkum will face Derek Bailey in the May 21 general election. Six candidates are seeking three open council seats.

Get the Story:
Tribe downplays suit over former rail corridor status (The Leelanau News 5/8 )
Tribe certifies Primary results (The Leelanau News 5/8 )

Related Stories:
Lawsuit challenges Grand Traverse land-into-trust (5/2)
Grand Traverse Band vote in primary on Wednesday (4/8 )

Mich. Senate Republicans Appear to Concede Gun Lake Compact Fight

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the GR Press:

LANSING — Legislative opponents of a Wayland Township casino may be ready to fold their cards after last week’s federal appeals court ruling in favor of the Gun Lake tribe.

Republicans who control the state Senate will meet this week to discuss whether to continue their block on a gaming compact between the state and the tribe.

“At some point, you need to take a look at what the reality is,” said Matt Marsden, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop.

“We can oppose it and wax on about the ills of gaming,” Marsden said Monday. “But the fact of the matter is, it’s not a gaming issue at this point, it’s a regulatory matter.”

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Sault Tribe Finds Investors for Greektown

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Detroit News (H/T Indianz):

Owners of the Greektown Casino may sidestep a potential state-ordered sale after a group of suburban businessmen announced Tuesday it will invest $100 million in the struggling downtown Detroit gambling operation.

The casino’s owners, Greektown Holdings LLC, already had missed an April deadline from the state to bring its financial performance up to required levels, and saw its debt downgraded in April by two major rating agencies over fears the state would force a sale by the end of June.

Now, Bloomfield Hills-based Entertainment Interests Group LLC, says it will buy a 40 percent stake in Greektown.

The deal needs approval by the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

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Research Note on Barriers to Indian Land Claims

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

I’ve posted a short paper called “‘Now What the Hell You Gonna Do in Those Days?’ A Research Note on Practical Barriers to Indian Land Claims” on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

There are extra-legal barriers that American Indian people faced when confronted with the illegal theft of their lands, or with any dispossession of their lands. Indian tribes and Indian people faced numerous practical barriers to bringing land and treaty claims prior to the modern era, including without limitation: (1) lack of financial resources; (2) lack of knowledge and sophistication about the American legal system; (3) demoralization; (4) lack of a clear and authorized tribal governmental plaintiff; and (5) government interference and control over tribal affairs.

For Indian tribes pursuing a remedy for these claims, there is a significant defense raised – why didn’t the tribes or the Indians bring these claims before? Since the Supreme Court decided Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Tribe, the equitable defense of laches has been raised by states, local units of government, and property owners against the tribal claims with frightening success rates. The defense is superficially compelling in large part because the practical reasons for failing to bring suit decades sooner might not be considered excusable.

In a pending case, Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida, the National Congress of American Indians attempted to flesh out the practical barriers to tribal land claims in an amicus brief. This short Essay attempts to add to that research. But the ultimate purpose of this Essay is to call for serious empirical research on this difficult question – why didn’t Indians and tribes file suit to vindicate their rights to land?

Nokomis Learning Center Article in ICT

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

Nokomis Learning Center educates community

OKEMOS, Mich. – Nokomis Learning Center, an American Indian cultural learning center in Okemos, provides many educational programs, exhibitions and events throughout the year.

The center estimates about 30 to 40 guests attend the center each day, with the number skyrocketing during school tours and special events.

”It really varies,” said Maria Raviele. ”A lot of school groups come in October and November. It picks up again in April and May when it’s warmer,” said the graduate student, who lives in Lansing and attends nearby Michigan State University.

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Government Sued Over Grand Traverse Trail Trust Land Decision in Peshawbestown

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:

PESHAWBESTOWN — A group of local waterfront property owners are fighting a recent decision to place a former railroad corridor into federal trust status for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

A public notice last month in Leelanau County prompted six land owners along Suttons Bay to file a federal complaint over a Bureau of Indian Affairs decision to move into trust more than 22 acres of the former railroad right-of-way.

The lawsuit, filed April 18, alleges federal officials’ final decision to put the property in trust “was unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion, because the Grand Traverse Band does not have title to all of the land.”

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News Coverage of MichGo v. Kempthorne Case: Cert Petition Planned

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

I spoke to the author of this news article yesterday. He quotes me as making yet another prediction on whether the Court will grant cert as being “zero,” but what I thought I said was that MichGo’s chances of getting a stay is close to zero. I did say that I think a plausible Section 5 challenge will have to come from a different fact pattern, such as an off-reservation fee to trust decision, assuming there will ever be any again. Or a decision involving a wealthy gaming tribe like Oneida or Mashantucket Pequot.

Of note, the reporter told me that the MichGo attorney thought that the Carcieri case was a good sign for MichGo, in part because so many states signed on to an amicus brief supporting the cert petition. He thinks those states will support MichGo’s petition, too. But I wonder. States like Michigan and California are actually banking on the revenues from new Indian gaming operations in order to help balance their budgets. I don’t think these states would sign on, or else they’d be hurting themselves.

From Indianz:

An Indian law professor says there’s “zero” chance the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a land-into-trust case involving the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan. Matthew L.M. Fletcher, an assistant professor of law and director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center at Michigan State University, said the court, at some point, will hear a challenge to the Indian Reorganization Act. The 1934 law authorized the land-into-trust process and opponents say it is unconstitutional. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and ruled that the Bureau of Indian Affairs can acquire 147 acres for the tribe. A casino and other development are planned at the site. One judge, however, agreed that Section 5 of the IRA is unconstitutional. A group called Michigan Gambling Opposition hopes to convince the Supreme Court that the law is too broad. But Fletcher says the case is bogged down by other details to make it appeal-worthy. “I don’t think there’s any chance,” he told The Grand Rapids Press. “I really think the odds are close to zero that the Supreme Court would hear it.”

Get the Story:
Foes of Gun Lake Casino cling to slim legal hope (The Grand Rapids Press 5/2)
Gun Lake casino opponents down to last try (The Muskegon Chronicle 5/2)

Update on SagChip Boxing Controversy

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Our previous post on this question is here.

McKart-Marquez Judged a Draw, Not a Split Decision !
Keith Terceira

Last week we told readers of the difficulties surrounding the events that took place at Soaring Eagle Casino at Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The main event  between Bronco McKart and Raul Marquez appeared to be littered with controversy and official impropriety  after close scrutiny .

An appeal to  the Saginaw Chippewa Boxing Commission to provide the judges score sheets instead of the summary sheets went unanswered up until we received them today from Bill Miley via Gene McKart.

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