Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe authorizes study for island casino

Thursday, August 12, 2010  

The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts has authorized a feasibility study for a casino on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

The tribe's reservation falls under a land claim settlement act. The law subjects the reservation to state civil and criminal jurisdiction.

The state courts have ruled that the settlement waived the tribe's sovereign immunity for activities on the reservation. But the tribe also has parcels of trust land that may or may not fall under the law.

The tribe didn't gain federal recognition until 1987. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" as of 1934 but the court didn't say what that phrase means.

Get the Story:
Tribe okays feasibility study for Island casino (The Martha's Vineyard Times 8/12)