The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing the new Trump administration to decide whether it wants to weigh in on the case of the Gun Lake Tribe of Michigan, who have operated a casino since 2011.
A non-Indian, David Patchak, who lives near the reservation sued in federal court to overturn the Bureau of Indian Affairs action that put this land into trust, which allowed the Gun Lake Casino.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the man had standing to sue, but didn’t rule on the actual merits of the case. Now it has agreed to hear the case.
In the meantime, Congress passed a law reaffirming that the land was put in trust, but Patchak refused to drop the case. He appealed an appeals court decision and the case is again before the Supreme Court again.
The tribe opposes Patchak’s request, but in the dying days of the Obama administration, the Justice Department did not file a response. The Justices have now asked the Trump administration to respond. To make that possible, the high court has granted the Justice Department two extensions. The most recent is now due on March 20.
It is almost unheard of for a court to order a casino to shut down once it has been operating. This one has been operating for six years and employs 1,000 people. It is currently in the midst of a $76 million expansion.
The Obama administration left two such cases in the laps of incoming presidency, this one and that of the Cowlitz Tribe of Washington, whose right to put land into trust has also been challenged.
