"What happened?

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to jointly hear two petitions over a decision by the federal government to take the Bradley Tract, a parcel of Indian-owned land in Michigan, into trust. The petitions were brought by Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar and by the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band, an Indian group that asked the secretary to take its land into trust so they could establish a casino on it.

How did this issue arise?

In May 2005, the Interior Department said it would take the Bradley Tract into trust. Litigation brought by an anti-gambling group delayed the implementation of the transaction. The current suit began in 2008 when David Patchak, a private individual who lives near the Bradley Tract, filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that a casino would destroy the peace and quiet of the area and create pollution.

In August 2009, the district court dismissed Patchak's case. In January 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, overturned that decision and remanded the case to the district court. Salazar and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band then made an interlocutory petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, a move that Patchak opposed."

Get the Story:
Legal Brief: U.S. Supreme Court takes Indian casino case (Thomson Reuters News & Insight 12/13)

DC Circuit Decision:
Patchak v. Salazar (January 21, 2011)

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