The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to reschedule arguments in the Bay Mills Indian Community off-reservation casino case.

Last week, the court scheduled a hearing on May 31. But Michigan Assistant Attorney General Louis B. Reinwasser, who has been handling the case from its inception, can't attend because he will be traveling to Paris to attend the French Open.

The state is willing to argue the case earlier than May 29, a request supported by the Bay Mills Indian Community. But the tribe doesn't want the hearing to be conducted by telephone, as Reinwasser has proposed.

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians also opposes a telephonic hearing. But the tribe, whose leaders oppose the Bay Mills casino, is willing to accommodate an earlier hearing date.

The Bay Mills Indian Community opened the casino in Vanderbilt in November 2010. The facility is located on land that hasn't been placed in trust but the tribe argues that it was acquired in connection with a land claim settlement.

A federal judge ordered the tribe to shut down the casino in March 2011. It's been closed since.

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Hearing to reopen Bay Mills Vanderbilt casino may be postponed (The Gaylord Herald Times 4/3)