The New Mexico Supreme Court recently denied the Oklahoma-based Fort Sill Apache’s petition forcing Governor Susana Martinez to sign a gambling compact with the tribe. The justices offered no explanation for their decision. The tribe had filed the petition earlier this year after it said Martinez ignored its chairman’s requests for the tribe to be added to existing compacts.
The Fort Sill tribe wants to operate a casino on land near Deming in southern New Mexico that was put into trust in 2002. Tribal officials have said the fact that land has not been federally approved yet for gambling is irrelevant. Martinez disagreed, noting the tribe’s land must be federally approved for gambling before her office can negotiate a compact.
