National Indian Gaming Commision

MSU Law Alum Sharon Avery Appointed to NIGC

Kate Fort

Here

Sharon Avery is an enrolled member of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan. She currently serves as an Associate General Counsel for the National Indian Gaming Commission’s Office of General Counsel. In this role she has gained familiarity with the agency’s structure and the important role the agency plays within the Tribal gaming industry. Prior to joining the National Indian Gaming Commission, Ms. Avery worked in the Legal Department of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan for 10 years. She graduated from Michigan State University College of Law with a Juris Doctor degree and a certificate from the Indigenous Law and Policy Center.

Congratulations Sharon!!!

NIGC Internship Announcement

Sarah M Donnelly

Details about the Summer 2016 internship program can be found here.

Eighth Circuit Remands Ponca Gaming Lands Case to NIGC

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in State of Nebraska v. United States Dept. of Interior. A split decision. Here is the court’s syllabus:

Civil case – Indian law. Case remanded to the National Indian Gaming Commission to permit that body to determine whether a valid agreement exists which would estop the Ponca Tribe from raising the restored land exception to the bar on using certain lands for gaming purposes; if the Commission determined that no valid agreement exists, it may then proceed to reexamine the question of whether the land in question is eligible for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s restored land exception; on remand the Department of the Interior and the Gaming Commission should also consider the impact of the Ponca Restoration Act on the restored land issue. Judge Kornmann, dissenting.

And the materials:

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