This is for the January 23 conference (today, the Court will consider the MichGO v. Kempthorne petition).
From SCOTUSblog:
Docket: 08-655
Title: Harrah’s Operating Company, Inc. v. NGV Gaming, Ltd.
Issue: Whether the term “Indian lands” in 25 U.S.C. 81(a) applies only to land currently held in trust by the United States or also to land that will be held in trust.
The questions presented are:
1. Does the Dictionary Act’s rule that words used in the present tense also include the future tense, unless the context indicates otherwise, only apply if the statutory text at issue is ambiguous?
2. Does the term. “Indian lands” as used in 25 U.S.C. §§ 81 and 2701-2721 include both land that “is held by the United States in trust for an Indian tribe” and land that “will be held in trust by the United States for an Indian tribe”?
Here is the brief — harrahs-v-ngv-gaming-cert-petn
And here is the lower court opinion — guidiville-band-v-ngv-gaming
Turtle Talk 