The U.S. Department of the Interior is appealing a federal court ruling that reversed the department’s March action that rescinded 301 acres of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts from federal trust.
The June 5 ruling barred the Trump administration from taking land back from trust that the Obama administration had put into trust in 2015.
Interior has filed an appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Mashpee Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell reacted to the appeal: “Without providing the tribe with any warning, and without providing justification or reasoning, the secretary’s action, unfortunately, is consistent with this administration’s constant failure to acknowledge or address the history of injustice against our tribe and all Native Americans, and its utter lack of interest in protecting tribal lands.”
