Now that the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit has refused to hear an appeal of an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that the Aquinnah Wampanoags can operate a Class III casino on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, only an intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court remains. And that is also a one chance in a 100 proposition.
The appeals court ruled that the tribe is not bound by an agreement it signed with the state of Massachusetts and the town of Aquinnah in the 1980s, the 1987 Massachusetts Settlement Act passed by Congress—and that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 takes precedence.
When last year the tribe, acting on an opinion of the National Indian Gaming Commission, decided to move forward on building a Class III bingo operation in an unfinished community center, the Aquinnah/Gay Head Community Association, state and town sued to stop them.
A federal judge ruled in their favor. A three-judge panel of the appeals court April 10 overturned that ruling, and now the full court refused to hear an appeal to that judgment.
Now their only recourse is to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which only agrees to review one percent of the cases that ask it to intervene. They have until August 8 to file the appeal. The town’s Board of Selectmen have already voted to appeal.
Tribal Chairman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais declared that she was “ecstatic,” and called on the tribe’s opponents to “stop fighting us, and wasting everyone’s valuable time and resources.” She added, “However if not, we are and remain prepared to continue to defend our rights.”
