Supreme Court agrees to review Gun Lake casino site case

Monday, December 12, 2011  

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear a case that affects the casino owned by the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians of Michigan, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe.

The tribe opened the Gun Lake Casino on February 11. That was just a couple of weeks after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit that challenges the trust status of the gaming site.

The DC Circuit said David Patchak, a non-Indian, can sue the Bureau of Indian Affairs for approving the tribe's land-into-trust application. Patchak hopes to show that the tribe wasn't "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 -- the tribe gained federal recognition in 2000.

The tribe and the Department of Justice are asking the high court to overturn the decision. A negative outcome could force the tribe to go through the lengthy land-into-trust process all over again.

The petitions in Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak and Salazar v. Patchak were granted by the court in an order list today. A date for oral arguments hasn't been set.

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

Related Stories:
Gun Lake Tribe wants Supreme Court to hear gaming site dispute (8/11)
Turtle Talk: Commentary on DC Circuit decision on land-into-trust (1/31)
Gun Lake Tribe won't let litigation delay opening of gaming facility (1/27)
Land-into-trust issues cloud gaming plans for at least two tribes (1/25)