It could be game over for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in its quest to build a casino on tribal land in Southeastern Massachusetts. A federal judge last week ruled that the Secretary of Interior had no authority to grand land-into-trust for the tribe because it wasn’t a recognized tribe prior to 1934 when the Indian Recognition Act went into effect.
Construction on the project began several months ago, and is being financed and developed by Malaysian gaming company Genting BHD. Cedric Cromwell, the chairman of the tribe, says they will likely appeal in conjunction with the Interior Department.
“Our people have been challenged throughout history and we are still here, living on the land of our ancestors,” Cromwell said in a statement. “I have no doubt we will prevail.”
Michelle Littlefield, who filed suit with her husband, David, and other residents, said that they were most concerned about the loss of control over the tribal land.
“It isn’t about a casino, it’s about land in a trust, and it’s now under state and local control,” she said. “Our goal has always been that there be local and state oversight.”
A Supreme Court decision in 2009, Carcieri, upheld the 1934 law and has made it more difficult to take land into trust for tribes that were not recognized at that time. The government argued that the law was “ambiguous.” District Judge William G. Young disagreed.
“With respect, this is not a close call: to find ambiguity here would be to find it everywhere,” Young wrote. “The secretary of the Interior lacked the authority to acquire land in trust for them, at least under the rationale the secretary offered in the record of decision.”
