A lawsuit over the Oneida Nation land-into-trust application is still pending in federal court, more than two years after it was filed.

The state, two counties and two towns are trying to stop the Interior Department from placing about 13,000 acres of the tribe's land in trust. According to Madison County Attorney John Campanie, there's evidence the Bush administration agreed to approve the application before the process was complete.

Judge Lawrence Kahn has dismissed some of the complaints but hasn't made a final decision in the case. He hasn't ruled on a request to depose Jim Cason, the former DOI official who made the decision on the tribe's application.

The tribe filed the application after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Sherrill v. Oneida Nation. The court said the tribe must follow the land-into-trust process before asserting sovereignty on its properties.

Get the Story:
Land into trust case still in lower court (The Oneida Dispatch 10/14)

Relevant Documents:
Record of Decision: Oneida Indian Nation of New York Fee-to-Trust Request (May 2008)

Court Decisions:
New York v. Salazar | Verona v. Salazar | Oneida v. Salazar

Sherrill v. Oneida Nation Decision:
Syllabus | Opinion [Ginsburg] | Concurrence [Souter] | Dissent [Stevens]

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