Litigation | Openings & Closings

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe continues work on casino despite court ruling

Monday, August 1, 2016

Artist's rendering of the First Light Resort and Casino in Taunton, Massachusetts. Image from Steelman Partners / Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts is moving ahead with a long-awaited casino despite uncertainty about its gaming site.

Last Thursday, a federal judge ruled that the Bureau of Indian Affairs should not have approved the land-into-trust application for the First Light Resort and Casino. But the decision does not affect activities at the 151-acre site in Taunton because the tribe is not a defendant in the case known as Littlefield v. Department of the Interior.

Construction crews in fact were at work on Friday despite the ruling, The Taunton Daily Gazette reported. An appeal is anticipated during which the tribe is likely to make significant progress on a facility that's due to open about a year from now.

At issue is the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. In February 2009, the justices ruled that the BIA can place land into trust for tribes but only those that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934.

The Mashpees didn't gain former federal status until 2007, long after that date. But the BIA concluded that tribe could benefit from the land-into-trust process because its members were living on a "reservation" in 1934.

Judge William G. Young, however, didn't buy that assessment. He said the BIA's approval went against the Carcieri decision because the tribe was not "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Littlefield v. Department of the Interior.

Get the Story:
Judge's ruling fails to slow construction at First Light Taunton casino site (The Taunton Daily Gazette 7/30)
Lawyers for Mashpee Taunton casino case expect appeal (The Boston Globe 7/30)