Cayuga Indian Nation

Materials in Cayuga Nation v. Tanner

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Originally filed by Clint Halftown’s group against the Village of Union Springs to enjoin the village’s effort to regulate Class II bingo; now a challenge to the Halftown group by the Cayuga Nation Unity Council. News coverage here.

Here are the materials:

1 Complaint

5-1 Motion for PI

7 DCT Show Cause Order

27 Cayuga Nation Unity Council Motion to Intervene

28 Cayuga Nation Unity Council Motion to Dismiss

32 Defendants Cross-Motion to Dismiss

33 Plaintiffs Response

The IBIA decision on the Cayuga leadership dispute is here.

A state court decision on the leadership dispute is here.

State Court Case Dismissed in Cayuga Nation Leadership Dispute

Kate Fort3 Comments

Opinion here.

Press release here.

A state supreme court has dismissed the law suit filed by former Cayuga leaders Clint Halftown, Timothy Twoguns, and Gary Wheeler against the Nation’s current government, the Unity Council.
In its May 19th ruling, the Seneca County Supreme Court adopted the Unity Council’s position that “because the underlying allegations in [Halftown’s] law suit are fundamentally founded on the longstanding question of who has the right to lead the Nation, no determination could be made by
this Court without interfering in tribal sovereignty and self-government.” The Court rejected Halftown’s claim that he is recognized as a leader of the Nation by the United States, and
suggested that regardless of Halftown’s position within the nation, the law suit lacked merit. “Notably,” the court ruled, “there is a dearth of allegations regarding any direct involvement by any of the named defendants at any of the incidents.”

Cayuga Intervention Materials in New York v. Jewell (Oneida Trust Acquisition)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Cayuga Motion to Intervene

NY Opposition

Interior Opposition

Oneida Opposition

News coverage.

Cayuga Press Release in Response to OIN/NY State Agreement

Kate Fort2 Comments

Here.

Cayuga Indian Nation RFP: Tribal Economic Development

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

CAYUGA NATION — Request for Proposals
The Cayuga Nation in New York State requests proposals from qualified firms or individuals to advise the Nation in preparing a plan to develop the Nation’s economy.

The Cayuga Nation is a federally-recognized sovereign Indian nation.  It is a member nation of the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations Confederacy. The Nation is governed according to a traditional Haudenosaunee and Cayuga law and custom. The Nation has approximately 485 enrolled citizens. The Nation currently does not own any land that is held in trust by the federal government.  It holds several parcels of land in fee simple ownership. The Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794 recognized a Cayuga Reservation of approximately 64,000 acres in Seneca and Cayuga Counties, New York. The boundaries of this Reservation have never been terminated. The Nation does not own or operate a casino or other gambling enterprise.  It owns and operates a number of small enterprises within the Cayuga Reservation. The Nation does not have a separate economic development corporation.

More details in the RPF:

RFP Nation Econ Devt 3 15 13

 

KBIC Proposed Gaming Facility in Marquette County Approved by Department of Interior; Cayuga Request Dismissed

Kate Fort

From the press release (though the embedded links with additional information aren’t yet working):

The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is located in Baraga County, Mich., and has approximately 3,310 members. It has more than 6,000 acres of existing trust lands on its reservation in the state’s Upper Peninsula. The tribe has been operating and regulating a class III gaming facility in Marquette County, about 90 miles from its headquarters, since at least 2000. The tribe is proposing to relocate this existing facility to a new location within Marquette County, on an 80-acre parcel at the site of the former Marquette County Airport. The new site is 18 miles closer to the tribe’s reservation than its existing facility. Under a 2000 settlement agreement with the state of Michigan, the tribe has agreed to close its existing off-reservation gaming facility if its proposal receives final approval and it begins gaming activities on the new site.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) prohibits Indian gaming on lands acquired in trust after the law’s enactment in 1988, unless one of three explicitly crafted exceptions applies. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community submitted its application under IGRA’s “Secretarial Determination” exception, which requires the Secretary to determine the proposed gaming establishment is in the best interest of the tribe and its citizens, and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community. The governor of Michigan must concur in this determination before the land can be acquired in trust for the tribe for gaming.

Interior also dismissed an application by the Cayuga Indian Nation, stating it was incomplete. Here is press coverage of that decision. Senator Schumer’s quote is particularly disheartening:

Schumer acknowledged that the battle over the Cayuga application could continue if the Cayugas submit a new application.

“I fought tooth and nail to have the Interior Department block this application, and am pleased that the federal government has heeded our call,” he said. “I’ll continue to stand side-by-side with homeowners, businesses, and county government leaders to oppose further attempts to take land into trust without the consent of Seneca and Cayuga counties.”

The Cayugas started the trust application process in 2005. The 125 acres it sought to place into federal trust includes part of the nation’s ancestral homeland around the north end of Cayuga Lake.

Documents are also available here

Second Circuit Opening Briefs in Oneida v. Paterson Tax Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here:

Oneida Opening Brief

Seneca Nation Opening Brief

Cayuga Intervenor Brief

St Regis Opening Brief

Unkechauge Opening Brief

N.Y. Opening Brief

Akwesasne Convenience Store Assn Amicus Brief

01 City of New York Amicus Brief

New York Association of Convenience Stores Amicus Brief

 

Seneca Nation v. Paterson Update

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Many more pleadings:

Memorandum in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction

Affirmation of Peter J Kiernan

Affirmation of Daniel Smirlock

Affirmation of Jamie Woodward

Cayuga Motion to Intervene

Cayuga Nation Motion for PI and TRO

Red Earth Memorandum in Support of Motion to Appear as Amicus

Prior materials here and here.

Cayuga Indian Nation Tax Case Oral Argument Video in N.Y. Court of Appeals

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Here is the court’s case summary.

Lower court decision here.

NYT’s Article on New York State’s Tobacco Fight with Indian Tribes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the NYTs:

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a group of tobacco vendors on an Indian reservation on Long Island cannot sell tax-free cigarettes to the general public until a court rules in a closely watched legal battle between the reservation and New York City.

A temporary injunction issued by Judge Carol B. Amon of Federal District Court in Brooklyn gave the city at least a temporary victory in its efforts to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

“The city will go after every dollar that is owed to city taxpayers,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement on Wednesday. Under Judge Amon’s ruling, a group of cigarette businesses on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation near Mastic can sell tax-free cigarettes only to tribe members, for personal use, until a verdict is reached in a federal lawsuit the city filed in September.

The judge stayed the ruling for 30 days to give the vendors time to appeal.

“The judge’s ruling is completely wrong,” said Harry Wallace, a lawyer and the chief of the Unkechaug Indian Nation, which is on the Poospatuck reservation, adding that it ignored the Indian nation’s sovereignty.

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