Here is the news article on the IRS plans to auction off the LeMaster Ranch, formerly owned by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. And here is the Tribe’s motion for a TRO that apparently failed yesterday:

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Motion for TRO

An excerpt from the article:

The Internal Revenue Service plans to auction land on one of America’s poorest Indian reservations today, after efforts Wednesday to block the sale in U.S. District Court failed.

According to a federal lawsuit filed by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS intends to auction the land to settle delinquent federal employment taxes it maintains are owed by the tribe.

On Wednesday, a judge denied the restraining order seeking to block the sale, but, according to Terry Pechota, the attorney for Crow Creek Tribal Farms, the judge indicated that he would set the case for trial.

The auction will occur, but no land would change hands until after a court date in late March, said Duane St. John, a member of the tribal council.

The tribe has been planning to develop wind energy, and “this is our prime wind energy land,” St. John said. “So that’s going to be another big hurt to us.”