Opponents of the casino in Taunton, Massachusetts that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe wants to build are essentially baiting the tribe to put up or shut up in its appeal of the judge’s decision that has taken their land out of trust.
The plaintiffs in the case want the tribe to withdraw its appeal of the ruling or else be forced to move forward and file opening briefs with the appeals court in the next 60 days.
The tribe has continued to seek stays in the ongoing appeal of the 2016 judgement that stopped work on the $1 billion First Light Casino. Judge William Young held that the tribe, which was recognized in 2009, is bound by the 2011 Carcieri v. Salazar decision of the Supreme Court that holds that tribes not under federal jurisdiction in 1934 may not put land into trust.
Neighbors of the tribe, living in East Taunton, sued to stop the casino. They challenged the process by which the Department put the land into trust. Their attorney, David Tennant, wrote that the tribe shouldn’t be allowed another stay because it chose to “take its chances” when it asked the Department of the Interior to find another way to put the land into trust after the federal judge’s ruling.
In September 27 the tribe filed a new lawsuit that challenges the Department’s determination that reversed its own decision to put 321 acres into trust.
After Young’s ruling the Interior Department spent many months trying to find a way to put the land into trust that would address the judge’s ruling. It looked closely at the tribe’s contention that, although it was not directly under federal control, that it WAS under the control of the state of Massachusetts, which could be considered a surrogate.
It wasn’t able to use that reasoning and so, finally informed the tribe of that decision.
Tennant told reporters that the tribe is trying to avoid the “inevitable, final conclusion” to the judge’s ruling.
In opposing the tribe’s motion, Tennant wrote, “To say now that this 2016-filed appeal should be tacked onto the backend of a just-commenced lawsuit in a different circuit is not simply ‘moving the goalposts,’ it is relocating them into a different stadium,” adding, “Enough’s enough.”
Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell has attacked the lawsuit because some of it has been funded by Neil Bluhm of Rush Street Gaming, who wants to build a casino in the southeastern part of the state—which he can’t do if the Mashpee casino goes forward.
The tribe claims that losing the trust status creates an existential threat for the tribe and threatens its ability to self-govern. It also says it would be the first time since the 1960s that the federal government has dis-established a reservation it created. This possibility has sent shock waves throughout Indian Country.
